


After So Long

by radredknuxfan



Series: Mistakes and Regrets [2]
Category: Kung Fu Panda - All Media Types
Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-07-21 16:43:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7395451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radredknuxfan/pseuds/radredknuxfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Po has been led to believe that he was now the last panda alive after Lord Shen had exterminated his entire species. What would happen, though, when he's proved wrong? Sequel to Mistakes and Regrets. Rated T for dark themes, but to a much lesser extent than the original. Please R&R!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so apologies for the wait since I finished off Mistakes and Regrets. I really wanted to knock out a few chapters for my Zootopia fics before I focused on something else. This did actually give me some time to think, though, and I realized something. I’m still not really going to be able to much different with the plot for Kung Fu Panda 3 considering for all intents and purposes the Po from M & R is now basically a more subdued version of the Po from the movie.
> 
> Still, I think I have enough of a plan put together that it can be more than just one chapter. It’s still not going to be very long, but I should at least get a fair share of content out of it. Anyway, enjoy!
> 
> PS: The recap below is as far as I will go when it comes to details about the original story. I still want to give people a reason to read through Mistakes and Regrets, but this'll at least give a general idea of what happened.

FOR THOSE WHO MISSED MISTAKES AND REGRETS:

After accidentally injuring his father and four other villagers during a routine battle against bandits, Po exiles himself from the valley, returning ten years later a changed panda. While he was stronger, he also suffered from anger issues, which came to a head when he was told his entire race was murdered by a mad overlord named Lord Shen. Po and the Furious Five travel to Gongmen City, and eventually take him out, but not before Po goes through one of the most difficult times of his life in the quest to achieve Inner Peace.

\-----------------------------------------

A month has passed since the masters of the Jade Palace have returned to the Valley of Peace from their journey to Gongmen City.

Everything seemed to have gone back to normal for the most part, with the Furious Five spending most of their time within the confines of the Jade Palace outside of when they were needed to protect the citizens of the valley.

However, not everything was as normal as people were led to believe, though.

While Po was noticeably more outgoing and almost like his normal self after finding inner peace, there have been some moments where the anger slipped through.

One of the moments that really stuck in the panda’s mind was just a day ago. His dad’s noodle shop was very busy that day, so Po was asked to help out, which he was more than willing to do.

However, things were busier than even the two of them could handle, and after a string of commands from Mr. Ping that Po could barely keep up with, the panda finally snapped, shocking both his dad and the nearby patrons into silence.

Mortified, Po immediately slapped his paws over his mouth before running upstairs into his old room, refusing to come out until hours later.

By that point, Mr. Ping was forced to bring Master Shifu and Tigress down to the noodle shop to help him out, as despite the goose making all efforts to show that he didn’t blame Po, the panda still refused to come out.

To Mr. Ping’s surprise, though, the red panda wasn’t in the mood to try and talk to Po through the closed wooden door, so while Tigress stayed by the door to serve as backup, Shifu showed some of his amazing athleticism by hopping off one of the tables, running along one of the strings of pennants hung along the roof before flipping through the open window into Po’s room.

Po, predictably, recoiled in fright when he saw the projectile flying into his room, but his expression soon changed when he saw the none-too-happy look on Master Shifu’s face.

“Master Shifu! I didn’t expect to see you here…especially with the way you entered.” said Po, forcing himself to bow in respect despite the amount of emotional pain he was in.

“I’m not the only one here, Po. Please…open the door.” said Shifu, forcing himself to remain composed despite wanting to throttle the panda for the amount of stress he was putting him through.

Po, not wanting to incur Master Shifu’s wrath any more than he already had, slowly walked over to the door and opened it, allowing Tigress and Mr. Ping to enter the room as well.

Tigress, being the tallest one in the room not named Po, was forced to duck as she entered, but she quickly made her way over to the panda and wrapped her arms around his scarred midsection in an unmistakable hug.

Po, meanwhile, was a little surprised at the sudden outburst of affection from the Tiger-style master. While Tigress had indeed made some strides into being more outgoing since their journey into Gongmen City, even changing her normal red vest into a golden long sleeved garment with a red vine pattern to show her new outlook on life, both Po and the others were still getting used to this new side of her.

“Po, we’re here to help you. Just tell us what’s wrong.” said Tigress once she released Po and backed up a few steps.

Po looked like he really didn’t want to confess to what he did, but after a pointed look from Master Shifu, Po realized that he needed to change his tune considering he was slipping back into the way he was before everything that had happened recently.

“I just don’t understand what’s going on with me. I mean, I’ve found inner peace, and yet there are moments when I just want to strangle someone. Not literally.” said Po, quickly amending his statement after a curious look from Shifu.

Both Shifu and Tigress waited to see if there was anything else that Po wanted to say, most notably what happened between him and his dad, but the panda had so far remained silent. Despite not really having the amount of details that he was comfortable going with, Shifu sighed before speaking.

“If you are still having difficulties managing your anger issues, there must be some kind of loose end that you haven’t already tied up. Is that the case?”

Shifu looked up towards Po, expecting him to have something in mind, but to his surprise, Po’s face remained blank, showing him that the panda had no idea.

However, before Shifu could figure out a way to get around this roadblock, Tigress had already chimed in.

“There must be something you’re forgetting, Po! Did you straighten things out with the villagers about the incident?”

Po didn’t answer, but Shifu quickly noticed Po’s “deer in the headlights” expression when Tigress brought up what had happened ten years ago and latched on to it.

“You didn’t, did you?” he asked, leveling an accusing stare at Po.

Po struggled for a few moments, unsure of what exactly to say. Eventually, though, he sighed in defeat, figuring hiding things wasn’t all that worth it.

“No, I didn’t.” he said, his tone noticeably subdued.

Both Shifu and Tigress sighed, the former pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers to relieve the headache that was coming on.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I’m just…scared. I don’t know what they all would think if I tried to apologize for what I did then.”

“Po, this really has to stop.” said Tigress, her tone warm despite the stern look on her face.

“I don’t know if I’m ready.”

“You’d better be, Po. I am going to call for a meeting first thing tomorrow morning, and I expect you to apologize for everything that you’ve done that day and convince them that you can still be trusted. Is that understood?”

Po looked noticeably frightened after being asked to speak in front of the entire valley, but after a stern look from Shifu and a determined nod from Tigress, he gulped before nodding.

“Alright, I’ll do it.”

Satisfied, both Shifu and Tigress bowed before heading towards the door.

“I will see you tomorrow then, Po. I do hope that you will be prepared.”

Po could only stare at Shifu’s back, the red panda’s last words running through his mind as he watched the door close behind them.

As for Mr. Ping, once the goose saw the two masters leave the room, he walked over to where Po was, pressing a reassuring wing to his son’s arm before speaking.

“Don’t be nervous, son. I’m sure you’re going to be perfectly fine.” he said, smiling.

Unfortunately, Mr. Ping’s attempt at cheering Po up didn’t seem to work as he intended, as Po’s despondent expression didn’t change all that much.

“I hope you’re right, dad.”

Disappointed, Mr. Ping sighed before deciding it was probably best to change the subject.

“It’s getting late. Do you want to stay down here for the night? Your room is just as I’ve left it, as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now.”

Po didn’t answer immediately, glancing around his room for a few moments before finally giving his answer.

“Thanks for the offer, dad, but I think I’ll spend the night up at the palace. There’s too many memories in here.”

Although noticeably disappointed by Po’s choice, Mr. Ping was more than willing to let Po do what he wanted. Nodding in understanding, Mr. Ping stepped out of Po’s way so that the panda could make his way towards the door.

However, to the goose’s surprise, Po wrapped his scarred arms around his dad, Mr. Ping nearly letting out an involuntary squawk as he was lifted off of the ground.

Eventually, Mr. Ping was finally set back down on to the ground, and Po made his way over to the door. Before he actually went through the door, though, he slowly turned around to face his dad, a small smile on his face.

“Have a good night, dad.”

Without waiting for an answer, Po went through the door and closed it behind him, leaving his dad standing in the middle of his old room in silence.

“Good night, son.”

\--------------------------------------

The next day came along with a bit of tenseness in the air. While Po felt that he had done enough to prepare what he was going to say to the villagers, he still couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Back when he was a cub, being the only panda in a village full of rabbits, geese, pigs and other animals led to him being treated as a bit of an outcast. While his dad had been more than willing to pick up the slack in terms of interacting with his son, outside of the noodle shop Po tended to keep to himself, which meant that his public speaking skills ended up suffering quite a bit.

Growing up did lead to him becoming more outgoing (especially after his love of kung fu began to grow), but he was still never really experienced in speaking in front of large crowds.

Still, he knew that he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter if he wanted to avoid the wrath of Master Shifu, not to mention helping finally eliminate the continued anger problems.

Unfortunately, the day didn’t exactly end up starting as perfectly as Po wanted to, as the panda ended up getting up a little too quickly and awkwardly, pain shooting through his stomach as the scar from his recent knife wound was torqued the wrong way.

While the wound that came from one of Lord Shen’s blades did heal nicely after Po spent time both in Gongmen and back in the valley recuperating, he was in fact warned by the village healer to avoid putting too much stress on the wound so that the stitches wouldn’t break and reopen the wound.

Po did make every effort to follow the healer’s instructions to the T, dialing back the training as much as he could manage without losing all of the effort he made to remain physically fit. It even got to the point where the stitches were finally removed, but the pain does still remain sometimes, which annoys Po to no end.

However, this time the panda was more concerned with what was about to happen more than with what was happening now, so after waiting for the pain to abate, Po slowly picked himself up, gingerly stepping into the hallway just as the morning gong sounded and the rest of the Furious Five came into the hallway as well.

“Good morning, Master!” said everyone as Master Shifu walked into the hallway like always.

“Good morning, students.” said Shifu, bowing before moving into his assignments for the day. “Now, after all of you have finished breakfast, the five of you are going to head to the training hall for morning exercises.”

Po quickly noticed the fact that Master Shifu was looking at everyone except for him, and he had an idea as to why that was the case.

“As for you, Po, you will be joining me as we head down to the village. All of the villagers have been notified to meet at the square in fifteen minutes, so please eat quickly.”

Po looked noticeably surprised at the lack of time he was given to prepare, so he quickly made his way over to the kitchen to prepare something to eat before he went down. As for the rest of the Five, they weren’t on as much of a tight time schedule as Po was, so they were in much less of a hurry to eat.

\----------------------------------------

Thankfully, Po managed to finish his breakfast with five minutes to spare, so after saying a quick goodbye to the Five and washing his dish in the sink, Po quickly made his way to the Thousand Stairs where Master Shifu was already waiting.

“Good, you’re here. Come on, the villagers are waiting.”

Without waiting for an answer, Shifu began making his way down the stairs, his staff clacking every so often as it contacted the stairs.

Po, meanwhile, took a few seconds to readjust his vest (which was now a dark blue after his last one was destroyed during the events in Gongmen) before making his way down the steps just behind Shifu.

After what felt like forever to the panda, the two of them finally reached the bottom to find what seemed like a pretty decent crowd standing a good distance away from the steps as the two masters made their way down.

As Po made his way over to the crowd, he was keeping himself busy trying not to hyperventilate, but he didn’t get much of a chance before Shifu started to speak.

“Citizens of the Valley of Peace, I thank you all for joining us on such short notice.” said Master Shifu, holding his paws up as he addressed the crowd. “I apologize for the lack of urgency with this sort of meeting, but the Dragon Warrior wishes to get something very important off of his chest.”

Shifu then stepped aside, and all of the eyes of the villagers moved to where Po was standing, some of them narrowed as they weren’t quite ready to trust Po just yet.

As nervous as Po was, though, he was more determined to get the villagers on his side once more, so after letting out a big breath, he began to speak.

“Now, I’m not exactly sure how many of you were there on the morning when my actions ended up causing some of you to be injured. I’m sure some of you haven’t forgotten about that day, even if you or your loved ones happen to be one of the ones injured.”

Po paused to collect his thoughts, glancing at some of the more angry villagers before continuing on.

“The only reason I’m standing here in front of you is simply to ask for your forgiveness. I know it’s been ten years since it happened, but it’s tortured me ever since then, as you can probably tell from the way I look.” he said, spreading his arms wide so that they could all see the scars on his body as his expression showed just how badly the whole ordeal had affected him.

“Anyway…” he continued, sighing heavily. “That’s all I have to say. I understand if you still feel the need to hate me for what I’ve did, but all I’m asking is for another chance to prove I’m capable of protecting you.”

Po let his head fall, his expression downcast as he prepared to make his way back to the palace. However, to his surprise, he was met with a slowly rising round of applause as it started with one villager before spreading to the rest.

Surprised, Po could only stare as all of the villagers’ expressions were way more forgiving than what he was used to over how long this has gone on. This even managed to bring a tear to the panda’s eye.

“Thank you all for understanding.” said Po, wiping away the tear as he smiled at everyone in front of him.

The meeting over, the villagers began separating as they went back to their homes to prepare for another day.

However, there was one person near the back of the crowd that hadn’t moved an inch, and when Po managed to catch sight of them, he realized that he didn’t recognize who it was, at least at first.

After taking a closer look, Po could see that the figure looked eerily familiar, with his green vest and straw hat, but he couldn’t quite place who it was.

“Who is that guy?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long-ish wait. As I’ve mentioned in the last chapter for The New Age, I had to get my computer replaced since my last one died out. That ended up delaying things a bit, but thankfully now I’m ready to go once more.

As the villagers continued to file out of the square to prepare for another day, with some of them even showing some gestures of goodwill to Po now that he’s officially apologized, Po continued to stare at the newcomer, the events of his own return to the Valley playing through his head with how similar what was going on in front of him looked to back then.

Master Shifu was a little busy preparing to return to the Jade Palace so that he could get back to the others, but before he could even begin to make his way back up the stairs, Po held up an arm, preventing him from making a move.

“Master Shifu! Do you know who this guy is?” asked Po as Shifu gave the panda a questioning look.

The red panda was admittedly a little puzzled as to what Po was getting at, but after noticing him pointing towards the other end of the square, he followed where Po was pointing to find the figure, who had still not moved since Po saw him.

“I…do not know. Even if his face wasn’t covered, he doesn’t look like anyone I recognize.” said Shifu, his expression confused as he wondered just who was this mysterious newcomer.

Thankfully, though, they didn’t have to wait too much longer. Po was admittedly about to ask him who he was, but before he could even speak, the newcomer walked forwards, eventually coming to a stop a few feet away from the two of them.

Despite the straw hat shielding his eyes from view, Po immediately noticed the newcomer’s expression falter a bit once he got a good look at him and Master Shifu. While he had a general idea as to why that happened, Po held his tongue, not wanting to offend anyone.

“Excuse me. I’m looking for my son. Is there any chance that you or your friend might have seen him?” asked the newcomer as he looked towards Po, his expression unreadable.

Po didn’t really expect to be addressed personally by the newcomer, so it took him a few seconds for the realization to hit him. Thankfully, he somehow managed to remain composed, earning himself a glance from Master Shifu as the red panda waited for his reply.

“Well, uh…we’d love to help you, but I’m afraid we don’t really have much to go on, not to mention the fact that we don’t even know who you are.”

Po could hear Shifu sigh from off to his side thanks to the less than cordial tone he had on, but thankfully the newcomer seemed to be more concerned with something completely different, his sudden change in tone completely catching Po off guard.

“Oh, where are my manners?” said the newcomer, his tone much more jolly than what he had initially spoken with.

Po watched as the newcomer removed his hat, his eye widening in shock as he realized that the one standing in front of him was a panda, just like him.

“My name is Li Shan. My son is a panda, just like me.” he said, clutching his hat in his paws.

Unfortunately, Po was rendered speechless by the panda in front of him to say anything, so Master Shifu took the initiative as he spoke to Li.

“I apologize on behalf on my student, Li Shan. He was…led to believe that he was the last one of his race, so I imagine seeing you must have been quite a shock to him.”

“Last one? Of course he’s not the last one!” said Li, chuckling merrily as he regarded what Shifu had said.

What Li had said next came as a bit of a surprise to the both of them, though, as he checked the area around him quickly before shuffling forwards, his paw blocking his mouth from view as he quietly spoke his next words.

“I came from a village all the way in the mountains, and there are quite a lot of pandas there.” he said, smiling as he straightened up once more.

Po was still very much speechless, even after the big reveal of the existence of a secret panda village in the mountains, so Master Shifu was still forced to speak on behalf of the both of them.

“That is very interesting indeed, Li Shan, but let us get back to the topic at hand. Would you be able to give us a description of your son? Even if we don’t find him here, we can spread the information around to other villages.”

Li was a bit taken aback by the sudden change in subject, so it took him a few moments to realize what was going on.

“Oh, of course!”

Li paused for a moment to collect his thoughts.

“His name is Lotus. I unfortunately can’t really give you a description considering he didn’t look a whole lot different from any other panda. I can tell you how he disappeared, though.”

Li’s expression soon noticeably darkened as he recounted his final moments spent with his son. At first, it seemed like nothing was happening as Li spoke, but when Lord Shen’s name came up and the events began to sound eerily familiar to what was in his dream, Po finally spoke up, surprising the both of them.

“My mother left me in a radish basket.”

Li’s head whipped around, having just recounted how he told his wife to take Po and run, before mentioning how he never saw the two of them again after that.

“How did you know?” asked Li, his eyes wide as he stared at Po.

His question remained unanswered, though, as Po put two and two together, and entire expression changed into one of shock.

“Dad?”

Li didn’t answer, but his own expression showed that he had also figured out the truth, but before he could even make a move, Po had already rushed over, wrapping his arms around Li’s torso in an unmistakable hug.

While Li was definitely surprised by the sudden rush of affection, he soon adopted a warm smile on his face as his arms, which were in the air after Po latched on to him, came back down as he returned the hug.

“I’m not crazy, am I? I don’t know if I’m seeing things or not.” said Po, his voice muffled considering his face was pressed up against Li’s chest.

“No, I’m here, son. I’m very much real.” said Li, smiling widely.

“Oh, dad…I missed you so much. I thought you were dead for so long.”

Li was admittedly a little caught off guard by Po’s admission, as he began to wonder just what his son was going through not knowing that his father was still alive.

His worries were thankfully assuaged, though, when he noticed the look of pure unadulterated joy on his son’s face.

“What happened to you, by the way? You look like you’ve been through…quite a bit, let’s say.” said Li, unsure of how to describe the way Po looked.

While Po was admittedly a little confused at first, wondering exactly what his dad was talking about, he soon figured it out when he looked down to where Li was pointing.

“Oh, this?” he asked, pointing towards his body in questioning.

When Li nodded, Po was honestly a little taken aback by the attention on his new look, but he soon decided to play around a bit, adopting a faux cocky attitude.

“You like?” he asked, flexing his arm as he smirked.

Unfortunately, his joke ended up falling a bit flat, as Li stood there with a blank look on his face. He could also hear a small ‘smack’ coming from off to his side, as he could tell that Master Shifu had most likely face palmed.

Po soon adopted a sheepish grin, knowing that it was probably best for him to tell the truth.

“I’m joking, I’m joking. In all seriousness, it is kind of a long story.” he said as he held up his arms in a placating gesture.

Li didn’t answer, expecting Po to start actually explaining said story, but the other panda remained silent. However, before he could actually make a move to ask Po to explain what he meant, Master Shifu stepped in, saving Po the trouble.

“Po has…been through a lot over the past years, and if I’m correct, I believe that he wants nothing more than to move on. Isn’t that correct?”

Shifu looked over towards Po, expecting the panda to agree with what he said, but to his surprise, Po shook his head.

“No, it’s alright. I think I can manage it one more time. Besides, I think my dad has a right to know.”

While still pleasantly surprised with Po’s decision, Shifu managed to maintain his composure as he looked over towards Li.

“I stand corrected.”

Before either of them could say anything else, though, Po suddenly spoke up once more.

“However, I would like to keep it just between the two of us. I know I already told you and the Furious Five, but I’m…really not comfortable talking about it in public like this.”

Although Po’s request did give him a little pause, Master Shifu nodded.

“Of course. I am sure we could find a room in the Jade Palace to give the two of you some private time.”

“Thanks, Master Shifu.” said Po, bowing in respect before turning towards his dad. “Well? Do you want to head up?”

Li was more than eager to find out about this big story that Po was building up to. However, when he got a good look at the Thousand Steps in front of him with the Jade Palace situated at the top, his expression quickly changed into one of wariness.

While he knew quite well that he was going to have to climb up those stairs eventually to get to the Palace and the room where he and Po would finally talk, he was less than eager to actually do it after seeing how many steps there were to climb.

In an attempt to delay the inevitable, Li began looking around the square, making every attempt to avoid looking Po in the eye so that his nervousness doesn’t begin to show.

“Hey, why don’t you show me around the Valley for a bit? I’m sure that room won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.”

Po was admittedly a little puzzled by his dad’s reaction, but he saw no reason to force the issue, so he decided to play along for a bit.

“Alright, sounds good to me, I suppose. I guess I’ll meet you back up at the palace later, Master Shifu?”

Po looked over towards Master Shifu, who sighed audibly. The red panda could easily see through what Li’s issues were thanks to how it reminded him so well of when Po had first came to the Jade Palace. Thankfully, though, Shifu wanted to remain tactful, so he turned around and began heading up the stairs, but not before imparting some final words to the two pandas.

“I shall have the servants prepare one of the rooms once I return. Speak to them and they will show you where it’s located.”

Without waiting for an answer, Shifu began making his way up the stairs, leaving a puzzled Po and a slightly relieved Li.

After Shifu finally was too far away for the two of them to see, Po finally turned towards his dad, eager to show him around now that he was here.

“So, where do you want to go first?”

Even though Li had never been to the Valley before and would have no idea where anything was, the older panda decided to play along, placing a claw against his chin in thought for a few seconds.

“Oh, I don’t know. How about you surprise me?”

Po’s eyes widened for a moment, as he didn’t really expect to be left with a choice like this, but he soon smiled, as the panda was more than eager to start.

“Alright, if you say so.”

\----------------------------------------

With the Valley being as massive as it was, it took Po and Li quite a bit of time to get around it. They unfortunately didn’t get a chance to see everything, though, considering it was so massive. However, neither of them were really worried about that fact.

Once they finally returned to the square where they originally started, Po turned towards his dad, who gave him a questioning look.

“I think that’s about everything. Do you want to go head up to the palace now?”

While Li was just about ready to get the climb over with, having finally steeled himself for the journey during their tour around the valley, he soon realized that there was something that the two of them missed.

Turning away from a suddenly confused Po, Li pointed towards one of the buildings in the square and spoke up.

“Hey, what about that place? I could really use a bowl right about now, especially after all of that walking we did.”

Po looked towards where his dad was pointing and saw that it was in fact Mr. Ping’s Noodle Shop, and he nearly smacked himself when he realized he completely forgot about the goose in question.

However, as Li was about to head over to the shop in question, Po was admittedly a little nervous. While he was more than happy to have his dad back with him, he was unsure of how his other dad would react knowing that the two of them were reunited after so long.

Unfortunately, though, Po didn’t get much of a chance to think about the consequences, as Li looked back at his son, having noticed the lack of his presence.

“Are you coming?”

Po quickly hid the distraught look on his face and adopted a smile. While he could feel just how fake that smile was, Li thankfully didn’t catch on.

“Sure. Let’s go.”

Li smiled, satisfied now that Po was going to join him. The two of them began making their way over to the noodle shop, Li leading the way while Po lagged behind, the possibilities of Mr. Ping’s reactions running through his mind.

Po was eventually pulled out of his thoughts, though, when they finally reached the awning announcing the newest special for the day, a free side with the purchase of a bowl of noodles.

Having only just opened for the day, the shop wasn’t very busy at the moment, but Mr. Ping was keeping himself busy by cleaning the tables.

When the two pandas entered the shop, the goose looked up before smiling widely.

“Po! You’re here! How’d everything go?”

With his attention still on his actual dad, it took Po a few seconds to realize that he was talking about the speech.

“It went fine, but weren’t you there?” he asked, confused.

“Sorry, Po. I would have loved to have been there, but I unfortunately had a ton of work to do in here, so I couldn’t really attend.”

Po was admittedly a little disappointed that Mr. Ping wasn’t there for him, but he understood where the goose was coming from, so he let that slight go.

Things soon became really awkward, though, when Mr. Ping noticed the panda standing next to him.

“Who’s your friend, Po?” he asked, genuinely curious.

Po sighed, collecting his thoughts for a few moments before finally introducing Li.

“Dad, this is Li Shan. He’s…he’s my real dad.”


	3. Chapter 3

As Po predicted, Mr. Ping was noticeably surprised to see Po’s real dad come out of the woodwork without any real warning. Li watched as the goose slowly made his way forwards before reaching his wing out.

“It’s good to meet you, Mr. Shan.” said Mr. Ping, adopting a cheerful tone to his voice despite his expression showing how perturbed he was at the sudden reintroduction of Po’s real father.

Thankfully for Mr. Ping, Li failed to notice that fact, but Po did. However, instead of calling him out on it and causing a scene, Po remained silent, watching as Li and Mr. Ping shook paw and wing.

“It’s good to meet you, too. Listen, I really must thank you for taking care of my son all of these years. I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you.”

Mr. Ping’s expression changed a bit once he heard what Li had to said, and what he said next came as a real shock to both Li and Po.

“I appreciate your thanks, Li, but why are you suddenly showing up now?”

“Dad!” yelled Po, cutting Mr. Ping off when he realized just where he was going with his question. However, the goose remained steadfast.

“I’m sorry, Po, but I think this needs to be brought up. Why haven’t you come looking for him when he was still a cub? You haven’t seen all of the hardships he went through being the only panda in the village.”

Po looked over at Li, who was noticeably stunned after hearing his character being attacked by someone like Mr. Ping. However, the older panda was quickly able to come back with his own counterattack.

“I thought he was dead! Can you really blame me for thinking that way when a mad peacock and his army nearly exterminate your entire race?” said Li, looking noticeably angry now.

Mr. Ping was about ready to come back with his own argument, but before he could do so, Po stepped in between them.

“Dads, stop! Now!”

Po’s outburst had two different effects on his dads. Li, who had no experience with Po’s emotional problems, simply stood in place, staring wide eyed as Po breathed heavily from the exertion.

Mr. Ping, who had experience with Po snapping, was noticeably cowed, although the look he gave Li showed that his opinion had yet to change.

“Come on, dad.” said Po, looking towards Li as he spoke. “I knew this was a mistake.”

Without waiting for an answer, Po grabbed Li’s paw, leading him out of the door as Mr. Ping looked on, hurt.

\---------------------------------------------------

The journey up the Thousand Steps was done in silence, and even Li ignored the amount of strain that the workout was putting on his body, mostly because he was more concerned with the state that his son was in after what he’d witnessed back in the noodle shop.

Once the two of them made it up to the Jade Palace, Po was about ready to lead his dad inside so that they could be led to the room that Master Shifu had set up for them. However, instead of following him, Li went off in a completely different direction, catching the Dragon Warrior off guard.

“Dad, where are you going? The room’s inside the palace!” said Po, forced to raise his voice so that he could be heard over the distance they were apart.

“I think I like being outside more, Lotus.” said Li, his expression stern as he looked around the garden and surrounding area.

Despite being slightly taken aback by the entirely different name he was referred to, Po reluctantly followed as Li led him around the outside of the palace.

After a little bit of searching, Li came up to the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. Po watched as Li regarded the beautiful view of the valley before planting himself on the ground next to it.

Po was admittedly a little confused as to what was going on with his dad at the moment, but after a few seconds he saw Li pat the ground next to him with a paw, and Po sat down next to him.

At first, the two of them were silent, simply taking in the view. After some time passed, though, Li sighed before finally speaking up.

“What happened down there, Lotus?”

Po had a feeling that this was going to come up considering the way his dad was acting, but he didn’t expect it this soon.

“Before I answer, let me ask a question of my own. Why do you keep calling me Lotus? My name is Po.”

Li was a little taken aback by getting a question thrown right back at him, but he did manage to collect his thoughts and answer.

“Lotus was the name that your mother and I gave you when you were young. If you do wish to be called Po, though, I’m more than happy to oblige.”

Po briefly considered the option for a moment.

“Po would be good. I’m more used to that name.”

Li nodded in understanding, and Po knew that the brief foray into the new subject was over and he was going to have to explain himself.

Sighing heavily, Po stared off into the distance as he began speaking.

“I was just trying to defend your honor, dad. I mean, I remember the night that you’ve had to give me up because of Lord Shen. You looked like you wanted nothing more than to run away with my mom and I, but you’ve had to make sacrifices for the good of the village. I understand that completely.”

“No, no, I get that part. I just don’t seem to understand why you called meeting your other dad a mistake.”

That question was a little bit more unexpected, so it took Po a few seconds to figure out a way to explain his actions.

“I was worried. He’s taken care of me ever since I’ve arrived in this valley. I didn’t know what he’d think if you suddenly popped up after so much time has gone by, and judging by what happened down there, I think my worries were pretty well founded.”

“Well, I do think you should at least apologize to him.”

Po’s eye widened in surprise, not expecting what Li said with how he was being treated by Mr. Ping.

“After the way he was talking like you were a bad father? Why should I?” said Po, looking like he had no intention of going along with his plan.

“Because he’s your father! Well…technically your other father.” said Li, wincing a bit as he realized how poorly that line of reasoning went.

Po didn’t look convinced, so Li knew that he was going to have to take a different direction.

“Okay, so try to put yourself in his shoes for a second. You’ve spent the last thirty or so years taking care of a child you’d found alone somewhere.”

“It’s more like twenty, dad.” pointed out Po, which came as a bit of a surprise to Li.

“I should really know this being your dad, but how old are you?”

“I’m thirty two, dad.”

“Then what happened to the last ten years? You were two when the attack on the village happened.”

“It’s a really long story. I’ll tell you later.”

Li looked like he didn’t want to drop the subject, but after a pointed look from Po, he finally continued on.

“Anyway…suddenly the kid’s real dad comes along, and it’s beginning to look like he’s more into his real dad than you. How would that make you feel?”

Po opened his mouth to reply before the realization hit him, and his mouth quickly snapped close.

“Pretty upset.”

“Exactly, and that’s why I think that you need to apologize before things get worse between the two of you.”

Po sighed, realizing that his dad did in fact have a point. However, just as he was about to get up and start heading back down to the village, Li placed a paw on his arm, stopping Po in his tracks.

“You know, I can come with you if you want.”

Po considered that option for a few moments, but he eventually shook his head, realizing that it wasn’t the best idea.

“I think it might be better if you stay up here. I don’t know what my other dad’s deal is, but I think having you around would just make things worse. No offense.”

“None taken.” said Li, completely understanding where Po was coming from.

Po started walking towards the steps, formulating the best way to apologize, but after taking a few steps, he turned back around to face Li, something else having come to mind.

“Feel free to take a look around the palace if you’d like. I’ll be back in a bit, and then we’ll catch up.”

Li stared at Po for a few seconds, but a smile soon crossed the older panda’s face after seeing the earnest look on his son’s face, the younger panda clearly looking like he was ready to make amends.

Li watched as Po made his way over to the stairs. Once Po got to the point where his father wouldn’t have been able to see him anymore, Li decided to rest for a few minutes under the tree before taking up Po on his offer and taking a look around.

\-------------------------------------------

Luckily for the other occupants of the Jade Palace, what Li considered as ‘just looking around’ was less destructive than they thought, at least when it came to their experiences with Po back when he first arrived.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the kitchen, as when Li passed by, his senses were assaulted by the wonderful smells coming from the room.

It turns out that a few of the servants were cooking lunch, and while they weren’t anywhere near the skill level of Po at his best, their dishes were still quite appetizing, and it quickly caught Li’s attention.

“Uh, excuse me?”

One of the geese let out an involuntary squawk, nearly shearing off a feather thanks to the loss of concentration.

Thankfully, Li managed to catch what happened, and he soon had to quickly apologize for what he did.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

The goose in question turned around to face the intruder in question, but he nearly jumped when he saw the giant panda in the doorway.

“Oh, I apologize! I didn’t realize it was you, Dragon Warrior.” he said, bowing.

“Dragon Warrior?” asked Li, confused. “My name’s Li Shan. Po’s my son.”

The goose was admittedly caught off guard by the correction before he realized that while the two of them did look somewhat similar; Li looked more like a normal panda than Po did, so he was quickly forced to apologize once more.

“Oh goodness, I must be loopy today. I’m just so used to seeing Master Po, I didn’t realize there was more than one panda in the village.”

“Actually, I’m not from this village. I came from far away, and speaking of, that’s kind of why I’m here. Is there a chance that I could have a bowl of what you’re making in there?”

“Well, I’d be more than happy to, but this is supposed to be meant for Master Po and the Furious Five. I’m not sure if we’d have enough for you as well.”

Although disappointed at the lack of a meal, Li was more than understanding considering the circumstances, but before he could actually tell them that was the case, a voice came from behind Li that nearly made the panda jump out of his skin.

“I’m sure there should be more than enough for him as well.”

Li whipped his head around towards where the voice came from to find Tigress and the rest of the Five standing right behind her, the panda nearly freaking out as he began to think that he was going to be thrown out for trespassing.

“I…really should get going. I’m sorry for breaking in like this. I promise I’m never going to do it again.”

Li’s increasingly frantic words were brought to a halt when Tigress held up a paw, silencing the panda.

“I know who you are."

“You do?”

Li’s confused expression was met with a nod from Tigress, who had a half smile on her face.

“We were notified by Master Shifu that Po’s real father had come to the Valley of Peace. I assume that you are this panda he spoke of?”

Li simply nodded, too taken aback by Tigress’s actions to speak.

“That’s good. Now, if you’d like to join us, we’re just about to have lunch.” she said, gesturing towards the table.

Li, mystified by the amount of compassion being shown by people he barely knew, remained silent as he sat down at the table.

After the rest of them sat down and began to eat after being served, the conversation quickly turned to the guest in the room.

“So, how about we start off by going around the room and introducing ourselves?” said Mantis. “Name’s Mantis.”

“I’m Viper. Nice to meet you.” said Viper, giving Li a warm smile.

“The name’s Monkey. I’m glad to finally meet you.”

“I’m Crane, as you can probably tell.” said Crane sheepishly.

When it came to Tigress’s turn, though, she was admittedly not very in to the idea, but after some silent prodding from the others, she finally relented.

“Tigress.”

Li was a little puzzled by Tigress’s less-than-cordial attitude, but thankfully Viper was there to clear things up.

“Don’t take it personally. Tigress isn’t exactly the most social person in the world.”

“Oh! Well…alright.”

Li paused, looking over at Tigress, who was busy focusing on eating her food while the others were only half-focused on it considering his presence.

“Anyway, my name’s Li Shan. I’m sure you know why I’m here at this point.”

Li was admittedly a little surprised at this point how many times he’s introduced himself to everyone around. When he arrived at the village, he was only really expecting to have to find his son and have it be over with, but now that he thought about it, it was actually nice to get to know some of the people around the village even if some of them weren’t as happy to see him.

“So, how did you know Po was even here, anyway? China’s a big place, so I imagine the travel time must have been quite a while once you found out he was alive.”

Li paused for a few moments, slightly taken aback by Mantis’s casual admission that they knew about him only recently finding out that Po was alive, but after that few seconds; he soon realized that Po must have shared those details with them some time ago.

“Well…I actually received a message from the Universe that he was still alive. As for how I knew where he was, I’m not exactly sure. All I got was a picture of this place. Thankfully, though, I was high up on a mountain, so I was able to figure things out.”

Satisfied with Li’s answer, both Crane and Viper had some questions of their own, but before they could do so, Tigress suddenly said something that caught almost everyone off guard.

“Welcome back, Po.”


	4. Chapter 4

Pretty much everyone outside of Tigress whipped their heads around to the doorway to find that Po had returned from his journey down to the market.

“Come over and join us, Po. We were just getting into lunch.” said Viper, gesturing towards an empty seat with her head.

“Ooh yeah, I am kind of hungry.”

Po sat down next to his dad around two of the corners of the table so that they could still see eye-to-eye.

Once Po was fully situated and began eating, everyone else returned to their food. That is, everyone except for Li, who was trying his best to get a read on what happened through his son’s expression.

Unfortunately, Po’s expression remained blank, so Li was forced to go ahead and ask.

“So, how did things go down there, Po?”

“They were fine.”

Po’s simplistic answer caught Li off guard a bit, but he caught a flicker of anxiousness move across Po’s face, and he knew that this wasn’t the whole story.

“It doesn’t sound like everything was fine.”

Po glanced over at his dad before quickly focusing back on his food, forcing Li to take a different approach to get his son to open up.

“Come on, Lotus, you know that you can say anything to us. Heck, I may not know everyone in this room, but I can tell how much you guys are friends. So seriously, what’s stopping you?”

Li had a smile on his face as his arms were spread wide, hoping that this ended up working.

At first, Po’s expression remained neutral, making Li think that it didn’t end up working, which was surprising considering he used Po’s original name despite promising not to. However, just as he was about to try one more option, he heard a sigh coming from his son as he finally spoke up.

“As you can imagine, he was pretty upset when I got back to the noodle shop. Once I apologized, though, he was actually willing to forgive me. I guess he must have been a little more forgiving than I would have expected considering he’s…well…one of my fathers.” he said, glancing towards Li in acknowledgement.

“Well then, if things worked out, why do you look so upset?” asked Mantis, giving Po a curious look from off to the side of the conversation.

“He’s still going on about the fact that you didn’t show up until now. I kind of…got into a bit of an argument with him about that, but that was before we patched things up.” he said, looking towards Li as he spoke.

As for Li himself, he was a little disappointed that Mr. Ping was still going on about that fact, but he was definitely happy that his son was more than willing to stick up for him.

However, this was no excuse for flying off the handle like that, so Li sighed before voicing his thoughts.

“Listen Po, I appreciate you trying to defend me despite barely even knowing me, but you really shouldn’t be going that far. Besides, I’m sure there’s a calm, rational way to explain what’s going on without having to yell.”

Po couldn’t help but look away from his dad for a few moments, realizing that his residual anger was starting to slip through again.

Sighing heavily, Po turned back towards Li.

“I’m sorry, dad. I’ll make sure to try and go in a new direction in the future.”

Li nodded, smiling as he assumed that Po had managed to at least get the gist of what he was saying.

Eventually, the Five managed to finish their meals and made their way over to clean their bowls a few seconds before Li and Po went to do the same.

As the seven of them made their way out of the kitchen, though, Li’s eyes landed on the lithe form of Master Viper, and he began making his way over to her, a question forming in his mind.

“Excuse me, Master Viper?”

Viper stopped in her tracks before turning back towards Li.

“Did you need something?”

“Well…not really. I just needed to ask you something.”

Even though Viper knew that technically asking a question was considered ‘needing something’, she remained silent, allowing Li to speak.

“I apologize if I seem a little unaware of what Po’s been up to, but has he always been this difficult to get through to?”

Viper was a little surprised to hear the direction that Li had gone with this inquiry, but she already had an answer ready.

“I really shouldn’t be saying this, but yeah, we did have a lot of trouble getting Po to open up. We did eventually manage to do it though, thankfully.”

“Really? What was going on with him?”

It was then that Viper looked uncomfortably at Li for a few minutes before realizing that she definitely shouldn’t be talking about this.

“Sorry, I’d love to tell you, but I really think I should let Po decide when to tell you about it. I don’t want him to be mad at me.”

“No, I understand.” said Li, adopting a warm smile despite not being thrilled with the idea of having to go straight to Po to get some answers.

Still, if it had to be this way, Li was more than willing to follow through with it, so after uttering a quick goodbye to Viper, Li headed back outside, deciding to spend some time under the Peach Tree to reflect on what was going on.

To his surprise, though, Po ended up having the same idea, as he noticed his son sitting cross-legged under the tree as well, doing his best to meditate even though Li could see Po’s left ear twitch every once in a while.

After spending a few moments watching Po meditate, Li went over and joined him, deciding that if he was going to get some answers about what was troubling Po, he might as well go ahead and get it over with.

As Li sat down next to him, he noticed Po’s ear twitch once more, but instead of one of the usual moments where it did it once and stopped, this time it ended up twitching a few times, and after a few seconds of waiting, Po opened his eyes.

“Hi, dad.” he said, his tone a little subdued. “What’s up?”

Li opened his mouth, ready to just out and ask him, but it was then that he realized that maybe this wasn’t the best way to go around it. Sure, there was a good chance he might speak about it if he did so, but then again he was well aware of how difficult it was to get Po to open up.

Li sighed heavily before looking away towards the village down below.

“Nothing really, to be honest. I just needed some peace and quiet, so I decided to come over here.”

Li looked over at Po, expecting him to want to spend some time talking, but he was surprised to find Po just about to pick himself up off of the ground.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I was just leaving.” said Po, a confused look on his face. “If you need some alone time, I’ll go someplace else.”

Li’s eyes widened, not expecting Po to take his seemingly off-handed comment the wrong way. Thankfully, he already had a way to defuse the situation at hand.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that! Come on…sit down. I want to spend some more time with my son!” he said, patting the ground next to him.

As for Po, he was initially still a little confused, but after a few seconds, the real meaning of what Li had originally said finally registered in his mind, and after giving his dad a small smile, he returned to sitting on the ground, the two pandas enjoying the beautiful view of the valley below.

“Hey dad?” asked Po.

“Hmm?”

“What’s the village you came from like?”

Li was slightly caught off guard by the direction Po went in with his question, but his slight confusion turned into pleasant surprise, as the older panda smiled before finally answering.

“Oh, it’s wonderful! It’s a little hard to get to, being in the mountains and all, but when you reach it, it’s the best. There are so many trees around, there’s a bunch of waterfalls…honestly, it’s pretty mesmerizing the first few times you’ve seen it.”

“Only the first few?”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s still quite beautiful.” said Li. “It’s just…when you’ve left and returned as many times as I have over the years, you get used to the sights. Still, it’s a sight to behold.”

Po paused as he reflected on the glowing review of the village from his dad.

“Wow. I’d love to see it someday.”

Li opened his mouth to agree with Po’s sentiment before a crazy idea suddenly popped into his head, his mouth closing with an audible click as he reflected on whether this was a good idea or not.

“Well…why don’t you come along with me, then?”

Po’s head whipped around to face his dad so quickly that it almost gave him whiplash, his eyes wide as he tried to register what his dad had just said.

“What did you say?”

“Come with me.” said Li, reaching out with his paw. “I’d love for you to meet all of the other pandas in the village.”

Po stared at Li’s paw for a few minutes, trying his best to register the fact that not only was he not the last panda on Earth, there were many more pandas still alive outside of his dad.

Of course, he clearly remembered him mentioning that fact a couple of times earlier in the morning, but this was where the fact really hit him.

“I’m not the only panda…” he said quietly, staring off into the distance for a few more moments.

Eventually, Po managed to pull himself back to reality, and his focus turned towards his dad’s face, which looked a little concerned after seeing the episode he was going through.

However, the concern was soon abated when Li saw the smile on Po’s face as he gave his answer.

“I’d love to!”

Li smiled broadly, happy that he was now going to be able to show his son where he’d been living, but when he looked down, he saw that his arm was still extended while Po’s remained at his side.

“What about the Valley, though?”

“What about it? I’m sure it’ll still be here when you get back.” said Li, slightly confused.

“No, you don’t understand! I’m the Dragon Warrior. I’m supposed to be defending the village and everything from the bad guys!”

Po watched, waiting for Li to try to convince him to come along without having to worry about the village, but the actual answer came from somewhere completely unexpected.

“I believe that the Furious Five would be more than capable of defending the village while you’re absent, Dragon Warrior.”

Po nearly jumped out of his skin after hearing the new voice jump into their conversation, stumbling over himself as he turned around to face the newcomer.

“Master Shifu! God, you scared me!” he said, clutching his chest as he tried to calm his beating heart.

“Well, I do believe that you need to pay attention a bit more, Po. Then this kind of incident won’t happen again.” said Shifu, smirking a bit.

Po sulked a bit, realizing that there was still much to learn if he was going to be the best kung-fu master he could be.

“So, uh…what were we talking about again?” he asked after his sulking ended, realizing that Master Shifu’s supposedly unintentional scare had led to Po losing his train of thought.

“I’m sure that the Furious Five can handle things while you’re gone, Po. That is, if you still wish to travel to this panda village that your father speaks of.”

Po opened his mouth, just about to say something after finally being brought back on track, but then he realized that there was something he was missing.

“Wait…how much of our conversation did you hear?” he asked, looking at Master Shifu suspiciously.

The red panda’s expression made Po begin to think that he was hiding something, but after a few seconds, his viewpoint began to change when Shifu began speaking.

“I only caught the tail end of the conversation, when your father was describing the village. I must say, though, it does sound like a very beautiful place.” he said as he glanced over at Li, who nodded in agreement.

While Po was still a little bit wary about how much of what Shifu said was the truth, he decided that it was probably best to move on, considering Master Shifu was very proficient at preventing his body language from giving away anything that he didn’t want to give away.

“Anyway, are you sure that they’ll be okay without me, Master Shifu? I remember them telling me once after I came back about how difficult it was for them to handle the higher number of bandits.” said Po, carefully wording his concerns so that his dad wouldn’t catch on about some of the details in his life he wasn’t yet ready to speak about.

Thankfully, though, after glancing at Li, he didn’t seem too concerned about what Po had said, considering by that time, Master Shifu had already begun speaking.

“I understand how you feel, Po, but I believe that they are much more prepared for this eventuality compared to last time. Besides, I realize that we’re most likely not going to be able to keep it quiet for long, but we’ll do our best to make sure that word of your absence doesn’t travel outside of this valley.”

While Po was still a little worried considering the amount of stories that he’d heard from the other members of the Furious Five, Shifu for the most part seemed confident that they would be able to handle the workload, so Po was more than willing to trust his master.

His decision now made, Po stood up and began making his way over to his room, but not before turning back towards the others as he wanted to let them know where he was going.

“I’m going to go pack up some important stuff. Are you ready to go, dad?”

Li was about ready to answer in the affirmative, but after glancing up at the sky, he soon noticed that the sky was beginning to get dark. Although admittedly a little surprised at how fast the day went, Li soon realized that it was a good thing that even if it was going fast, he got to spend it with his son, so it was definitely worth the trouble.

“Yes, but I do think we should wait until tomorrow morning. It’s getting kind of late, and we do have a long journey ahead of us.”

Even though Po was a little disappointed at not already being able to go, he could completely understand where his dad was coming from, considering it wasn’t exactly safe to travel at nighttime. Plus, it gave him some more time to figure out what he was going to bring with him.

Nodding in agreement, Po rejoined his father at the Peach Tree, ready to enjoy the last free moments that he had with his dad before the two of them began their eagerly awaited journey to the Panda Village.


	5. Chapter 5

The rest of the day went surprisingly well after what Po has went through during the morning.

After a relatively long training session, which Master Shifu reluctantly allowed Li to observe considering both him and Po wouldn’t leave him alone about it; the two pandas spent most of the rest of their day together. Some of the Five even went out of their way to spend time with them as well, but that was mostly because they were more interested in learning about where Li had come from.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that Po was more than happy to be with his dad, the thoughts of Mr. Ping still lingered in the back of his mind, and Li quickly managed to pick up on it thanks to Po not being the best at hiding his emotions.

After night fell and the marketplace below was lit with lanterns to light the way, Po and Tigress, who were sparring to pass the time, started making their way to their rooms to go to bed for the night.

However, just as they reached the barracks where their rooms were, they were met by Li himself, who had been waiting for his son after he was told that this was where they normally slept.

“Is there something wrong, dad?” asked Po, slightly confused as he took in the sight of Li standing in the doorway.

The older panda didn’t answer immediately, mostly because of the fact that he hadn’t exactly planned out how he was going to confront him about his reluctance about dealing with his other father.

It ended up getting to the point where Po had to try and guess what Li’s deal was. Admittedly he wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to go through with it, considering it was late and he wanted to go to bed, but he sighed and reluctantly started to throw out possible reasons.

“Did you need someplace to sleep? I’m sure one of the servants would be more than willing to set up a room for you.”

Po was fully expecting to have to continue doing this for a bit, but to his surprise, not only did Li suddenly speak up, he also was thinking about exactly what Po had first asked.

“Well…technically that’s part of the reason.”

“What’s the other?”

Li sighed heavily before finally saying what he was planning to originally say.

“It’s about your other dad.”

“Dad, we’ve been through this. I’ve already apologized to him for how I acted this morning.” said Po, exasperated.

“I know you did…I’m just worried.”

Po’s exasperated expression disappeared relatively quickly after hearing what Li had said. Before he could say anything to actually try to comfort his dad, Li spoke up first.

“Look, I know me showing up here kind of turned your life sideways. Frankly, I don’t blame you if you think that way. Seriously, though, I think that you should straighten things out with Mr. Ping, especially when it comes to me. I’ll even come with you!”

“I don’t know, dad.” said Po, still unsure of what would happen if the two of them were in the same room after what happened.

Li, however, was undeterred.

“Po, we’re never going to get anywhere if you’re making every attempt to keep us apart. Me and him need to talk this out.”

“Alright, if it’ll make you happy.” said Po, doing his best to hide the fact that he was still incredibly worried about the impending meeting.

Thankfully, Li was satisfied with Po’s answer, so after giving his son a quick hug, he left Po on the steps as he made his way into the main area of the palace to hopefully find one of the servants.

Sighing heavily, Po closed his non-injured eye for a few seconds, breathing in and out for a few seconds to calm his nerves before heading in after Tigress, who had already disappeared into her room by the time he got to where his own room was.

\-----------------------------------

The next morning came, and Po managed to wake himself up surprisingly early, the panda having adjusted fairly well to his new sleep schedule after so much time spent sleeping in later when he still lived in the village.

What came as a bit of a surprise, though, was what came next.

Having not been notified of where his dad was sleeping, Po ended up having to search around the palace to actually find him. He didn’t have to look long, though, as judging from the panda shaped outline he could see through the rice-paper walls, he was given one of the spare rooms nearby.

The actual surprising part, though, was that it turned out that he was the only one still asleep, especially considering that after a cursory glance at the rooms around him, everyone else was most likely already awake.

Po debated whether or not to wake him up for a few moments before deciding to go ahead and do it, considering breakfast was relatively early in the morning, and he wouldn’t hear the end of it if Li missed that chance.

After making his decision, Po quietly walked over to the door, sliding it open as he slipped inside.

In an attempt to avoid causing any undue problems with the process, Po made every effort to sneak across to where Li was asleep and not make any noise. However, being stealth wasn’t his strong suit (and the fact that the universe wanted to make his life difficult sometimes), he quickly hit a squeaky floorboard.

Wincing as the sound reverberated throughout the room, Po froze as he waited to see if the noise would wake him up. To his surprise, though, Li remained asleep, his only real recognition being his form turning away from Po and towards the wall on the other side.

Sighing in relief, Po took in the still sleeping form of his dad for a few seconds before carefully walking over to the bed and standing over him.

“He must be a heavy sleeper.” Po thought, resisting the urge to voice them and risk accidentally making too much noise.

Reaching down, Po gently gave his father a shake on the shoulder, earning a snort as it seemed like he was going to wake up. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, though, but after a more firm shake, Li finally woke up.

As Li sat up on his bed, though, he looked over at Po, and the Dragon Warrior could clearly see the bleary-eyed look that his dad had on, and he knew that he had to apologize quickly.

“Sorry for waking you up so early, but I didn’t want you to miss breakfast. Besides, I kind of wanted to get my talk with my other dad done early so we didn’t interrupt his work day.”

Li obviously didn’t look thrilled about being woken up so early, having been used to sleeping in until way later in the day. However, at the mention of breakfast and the impending talk with Mr. Ping, he willingly pulled himself out of bed, stifling a yawn as he spoke.

“Well, let’s go then. After you.”

Li gestured towards the door, and Po led the two of them towards the kitchen, ready to start another day.

\----------------------------------------------

Despite Li’s lack of his normal amount of sleep, he tried his best to remain pleasant like usual while he enjoyed breakfast with Po and the Five.

Thankfully, the meal went by pretty quickly, so they were able to quickly get out of the palace and make their way down to the village while the Five and Shifu went through their normal training routine.

However, just as Po was about to turn the corner into the noodle shop, he was stopped when Li placed a paw on his shoulder.

Turning around, he gave Li a questioning look with his good eye.

“You sure you’re ready for this?” he asked.

Po sighed, admittedly a little surprised to hear this coming from his dad considering what he said last night. He knew, though, that he needed to get this over with, so he answered the question in the best way he could come up with to describe how he was currently feeling.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Li was definitely concerned with Po’s less than definitive answer, but before he could try to confront him on that fact, Po had already turned the corner into the shop, forcing Li to quickly jog to catch up.

Thankfully, the two of them got down to the marketplace early enough that Mr. Ping was still setting up for the day, but it still didn’t make it any less awkward when Mr. Ping looked up, his expression varying between happiness at seeing Po again and a blank look when seeing Li.

“Hi, dad.” said Po, waving nervously.

Setting down his washrag, Mr. Ping walked over and gave Po a hug like he usually did whenever he came down to visit.

However, just as Po was about to launch into his attempt to mend bridges between his two dads, Mr. Ping held up one of his wings, saying something that he didn’t really expect to hear.

“I’m sorry, Po.”

“About what?” he asked, confused.

Mr. Ping sighed, looking at his son for a few moments before finally explaining himself.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said yesterday, and I’ve realized that it wasn’t right for me to judge him for not being here for you for so long.” he said, gesturing towards Li as he spoke.

As Po listened to Mr. Ping speak, he was actually pretty stunned. The two of them didn’t exactly leave on the best of terms yesterday after Po’s last trip down to the village, so hearing his change of heart now was something he didn’t really expect to see.

Still, he was more than happy to see that Mr. Ping realized the error of his ways, so he remained silent as the goose continued on after an audible sigh.

“Po, I’m sure you know about this already, but I love you more than anything, and I never want to lose that, even if your travels as the Dragon Warrior take you to who knows where. So, as you can probably imagine, I was a little upset when Li showed up, and you started spending more time with him.”

“I’m sorry, dad. I didn’t mean to.” apologized Po.

“No, it’s quite alright. I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend more time with someone you haven’t seen for a very long time? I didn’t see that, though, at least initially.”

His explanation finished, Mr. Ping once again sighed heavily before grabbing one of Po’s paws, wrapping both of his wings around it as he looked up at his fully-grown son.

“All I’m asking is for your forgiveness, Po. Would you be willing to give it to me?”

Po didn’t answer immediately, as he was still a little stunned by the gesture that his father was giving. However, he was soon quickly able to pull himself together as he gave his dad a warm smile.

“I could never stay mad at you, dad.”

Mr. Ping smiled, happy that Po was more than willing to forgive him, but what Po said next made him realize that not everything was forgiven.

“I’m not the only one you should be asking forgiveness to, though. Frankly, I think he deserves a bit more than I did.”

Mr. Ping visibly winced, having admittedly been hoping that his apology to Po would have taken care of his problems with Li by proxy. However, it wasn’t going to be that easy, so after calming his nerves, he walked up towards the older panda, letting out a breath before he reached out with his wing, letting it hover between the two of them as he began speaking.

“I am deeply sorry for the way that I’ve treated you, Mr. Shan. I know you love Po as much as I do, and I understand that there was no excuse for me thinking that you were a deadbeat father. Can you give me another chance to start things over between us?”

Once Mr. Ping fell silent, having finished his apology, Li continued to stare at his open wing, briefly considering whether to fully forgive the goose. While Li admittedly wasn’t thrilled with Mr. Ping’s rehearsed tone when giving his apology, after hearing his more earnest apology to Po, he was definitely more amenable to restarting things between them on a better note.

Reaching out with his paw, Li and Mr. Ping shared a hearty shake before the panda started things off.

“Li Shan. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m known as Mr. Ping. I’m glad to see that Po’s finally found his real dad. I was a little worried after seeing what he’s been through a few months back.”

Li’s interest was quickly piqued after hearing Mr. Ping mention Po’s past. While he was a little worried about what Po would think considering that there was a good chance that there would be some private details shared about what he’s been through, he mentally justified his piqued interest by convincing himself that he only wanted to know to understand his son better.

“Was there something going on with him back then?” he asked, quickly glancing over and noticing that Po was inside the kitchen giving the two of them space.

Li quickly caught the pained look on Mr. Ping’s face, having been reminded of the look that Viper had whenever he attempted to glean some information off of her.

However, instead of attempting to dodge the question, Mr. Ping actually decided to share some information, although he tried his best to remain as vague as possible, not wanting to upset his son by sharing stuff he wasn’t ready to share yet.

“Well…let’s just say that Po was suffering through some…anger issues. He got through them after returning from Gongmen City, but before that was not all that easy to deal with.”

Mr. Ping clammed up after sharing that tidbit of information. As for Li, while the panda wasn’t exactly happy with the lack of information being shared, he knew better than to think that he could get more out of him, so he decided to move on from the subject just as Po returned from the kitchen.

“Well, I should probably let you get back to your business. Those noodles won’t sell themselves.” he said, chuckling a bit at the joke.

The two of them shared their goodbyes, but as Li and Po were about to make their way out of the shop, Li quickly came to a stop, having completely forgotten to share the one most important detail of their visit considering what they’ve just been through.

“Oh, Mr. Ping! I almost forgot to mention something.”

Mr. Ping, having just picked up his washrag to begin cleaning the tables again, paused as he listened to what Li was going to say. What he said, though, was something that he didn’t expect to hear.

“Po and I are going to be heading out to the mountains for a few days. He wanted me to show him around my village.”


	6. Chapter 6

Po visibly winced after hearing his dad throw their plans out that casually, thinking that it may not have been the best time to do so.

However, as he made a move to defuse the situation before it could get any worse, he was surprised to find that Mr. Ping appeared to be actually amenable to the idea, judging from the expression on his face.

“Are you alright with us doing that?” he asked, looking at Mr. Ping as the goose was silently registering what Li had said.

Apparently he must have been lost in thought for a moment, because when Mr. Ping heard what Po had said, he squawked audibly as his head whipped around to face his son.

“Oh, of course! I’m okay with you guys spending some time away.”

Despite the cheerful tone that Mr. Ping had on when giving his consent, Po could tell from the distressed expression he had that there was something else on his mind.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his head cocking to the side a bit as he regarded his surrogate father. “You don’t look like you’re up for the idea.”

Mr. Ping, realizing what had happened, attempted to adopt a nonplussed expression, but by that point Po had already figured out what was going on with him, so he willingly relented, looking away for a few moments to figure out how he was going to explain himself before finally speaking.

“Well…I just can’t help but be worried, Po. I know you usually have the Five with you whenever you’re away on a mission, but every time I can’t help but wonder if this would be the time that you don’t come back. And no offense to you, Mr. Shan, but you’re not exactly as capable as five kung-fu masters.”

Li remained silent, barely acknowledging being mentioned as he noticed Po open his mouth to argue his point. However, before he could do so, Mr. Ping held up one of his wings, silencing the one-eyed panda.

“I know what you’re about to say, Po, but it’s natural for a father to worry about his son when he’s away, even if he’s technically not your real father.”

Mr. Ping fell silent, watching as Po chewed his lip, unsure of what to say next. He didn’t have to, though, as the goose stepped forwards, grabbing one of Po’s paws with his wing, giving it a squeeze as he continued speaking.

“Look Po, all I’m asking is that you be careful when you’re out there. I know visiting his village isn’t anywhere near as dangerous as taking on a maniacal warlord, but there’s nothing wrong with being safe.”

“Well, it is in the mountains, so I don’t know for sure if it’s not as dangerous as you think.” said Po timidly, scratching at the back of his neck.

Mr. Ping’s expression faltered a bit after hearing this. While he vaguely remembered hearing them mention it being in the mountains, it still made him incredibly nervous to find out that they’d be traveling through dangerous terrain.

He quickly hid his surprise, trying his best to avoid having Po catch on. Thankfully, it appeared to him that Po did not in fact see it, so he quickly moved on, not wanting to have his son see him as a worrywart.

“Oh! How about I get some food together for you guys to take on the road with you?” he asked, his expression brightening as he thought of a good way to change the subject.

“Oh no, you don’t have to do that…” said Po, holding up his paws as he tried to convince Mr. Ping not to do what he was planning to do.

However, he was unfazed, heading towards the kitchen. After a few seconds passed, Po heard a loud crash coming from inside, but before he could make a move to see what was going on, he heard Mr. Ping’s voice.

“I’m alright, son! I just knocked over a few pans trying to get this stupid basket out of here. How about you two get all of your things together for the trip? I’ll probably have everything ready by the time you get back.”

Po stepped forwards, admittedly a little worried about what Mr. Ping seemed to be going through, but before he could get too far, he was stopped by a paw on his shoulder from Li, who gave his son a pointed look.

“We should probably leave him be, Po. Come on…let’s head back up to the palace.”

Po looked like he wanted nothing more than to say no to Li’s request and refuse to leave until Mr. Ping was convinced that he was going to be fine, but after another look from the older panda, he relented, sighing before heading towards the exit to the noodle shop, Li following close behind once he realized what his son’s decision was.

Once the two of them were out of earshot, Mr. Ping slowed his exuberant packing of vegetables and other food products long enough to look towards the exit.

While he knew quite well that Po was able to take care of himself easily, especially after the amount of time he spent away from the valley during his journey across China, but that still didn’t prevent him from worrying about Po’s safety every time he goes away from the Valley.

Returning to his packing, Mr. Ping thought about what he wanted to do next, surprisingly not spending too much time before he got an idea. Glancing at the basket in front of him for a few seconds longer than one would expect, he stuck the last chunk of supplies inside before working on dragging the basket out into the dining area.

\-----------------------------------------------

Back up at the palace, Po and Li were busy packing useful supplies that they would need for the journey ahead, both knowing just how far the mountains were away from the valley.

Once they were satisfied with what they had, with Po having barely anything of note and Li taking substantially more, they headed back out of the palace, intending to get started on the trip as soon as possible.

However, just as they were about to step out of the building and make their way to the steps, they were greeted by another voice coming from the next room over.

“Mr. Shan…Dragon Warrior…I see you’re about ready to leave.”

Po nearly jumped, having gotten used to the quiet around the palace since their return ten minutes ago, so hearing what turned out to be Master Shifu’s voice after that proved to catch the normally unflappable panda completely off guard.

Whipping his head around, he was greeted by not only Shifu, but the entire Furious Five as well.

“Well…yeah, I guess we are.” said Po awkwardly.

Po stood there, expecting the six kung-fu masters to say something substantial, but it was actually Shifu who spoke first, and what he said wasn’t something the one-eyed panda expected.

“Then we all wish you and your father well on your journey. We will await your return graciously.”

Po could only watch, baffled, as everyone in front of him bowed. Once they all straightened up once more, the panda couldn’t help but smile as he regarded his friends in front of him.

“Wow…thanks, you guys. That means a lot to me.”

Po gladly returned the bow, and he could also see Li do the same, albeit a lot less graceful than him.

Once all of the pleasantries were exchanged, Master Shifu gestured towards the front door, and Po and Li began making their way out of the building, once again heading towards the steps.

This time, though, they were able to make it without any interruptions, and as they made their way down to the marketplace, Shifu and the Five stood at the top, waving goodbye. Both pandas even returned the wave as well, although neither of them could really fully turn around to return it considering the risk of tripping and falling down the rest of the stairs.

Eventually, the two of them did manage to make it down the rest of the steps, and after trading looks, they made their way back over to the noodle shop to pick up the food that Mr. Ping had packed for them.

However, to their surprise, they found the shop completely empty, the only thing out of place being the two baskets that their food was supposedly in.

Curious, Po took a look around the place. While it was true that it was still pretty early, and it was unlikely that a lot of customers would be around, usually when he came down to the shop, Mr. Ping would be almost constantly running around the place, still working on setting up for the day ahead.

“Something wrong, son?” asked Li as he noticed the puzzled look on Po’s face.

Po paused, admittedly a little unsure of how to explain what he was going through.

“Not really. I’m just kind of wondering where my…other dad…went.” he said, still not quite used to having two dads.

“Well…maybe he just had to run somewhere. I’m sure it’s nothing bad.” said Li, placing a paw on his shoulder once more.

“Yeah, but I’m not going to get the chance to say goodbye.”

“Well, why don’t you just leave a note, then?”

“Yeah, I think I’ll do that.” said Po after briefly considering the option.

While Li was admittedly a little impatient, wanting to get on the road while they had as much daylight as possible, he willingly stood by as Po searched around the shop, grabbing a piece of parchment and scribbling out a quick note, leaving it in the kitchen after placing a bowl on top to weigh it down.

Satisfied, Po returned to the dining area, hefting one of the baskets on to his back as Li did the same with the other.

Nodding to each other, the two pandas left the shop, heading towards the exit as they finally began to make their way towards the mountains.

\---------------------------------------------

Days passed as Po and his father continued to travel endless miles along the plains of China. The journey was quite difficult, especially once they got closer to the mountains and the terrain became less smooth.

Even Po was having some difficulty keeping a consistent pace despite actually being used to doing this kind of exercise over the course of his time away from the valley. Still, he refused to complain, as he wanted nothing more than to show his dad that he was as tough as he looked.

Unfortunately, while Li had only just made this same journey not too long ago when actually coming to the valley, he wasn’t as physically fit as Po was, so the two of them were forced to take a break.

Sitting down on a nearby rock, the two of them set their packs down on the ground before leaning back a little bit to rest.

“Phew…this was harder than I thought it was.” commented Li as he fanned his face with a paw.

“What do you mean?” asked Po. “You managed to make it to the Valley fine, at least judging from how you looked when I saw you that morning.”

“Well…that was after quite a lot of breaks. Plus, quite a bit of it was downhill, so that helped me out a little bit.”

“How long did it take you?” asked Po, curious.

“Two weeks, maybe? I don’t know for sure. I wasn’t really keeping track of time.”

Po shrugged, having no argument against that fact.

The two pandas fell silent once more, taking advantage of the rest they were being given. However, it wasn’t long before Li’s stomach growled, Po wincing at how loud it actually sounded.

“Well…looks like it’s just about time to eat. How about it?”

Admittedly, Po was more than capable of spending time without food considering his experience doing so during his training, but he shrugged, seeing no reason not to go ahead and follow his dad’s lead.

Po followed Li’s lead as the two of them popped open their baskets to grab something to eat. However, to Po’s surprise, there was actually something alive in his basket, and as it began to untangle itself from within the pile of food, Po suddenly realized just who it was.

“Dad?!?”

“Oh man, it was so cramped in there! Any longer, and I don’t think I would have ever been able to straighten my back again.” he said, completely missing Po’s outburst as he focused on cracking his back.

“Dad seriously, what are you doing here?” asked Po, a little annoyed at seeing Mr. Ping with him after being led to believe that he would be staying at the valley.

“I decided to come with you two!” said Mr. Ping, smiling. “Besides, who’s going to cook you your favorite noodle soup when I’m not around?”

“Dad, I can cook it myself.” said Po, unimpressed. “Really, what are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to be sure that you were going to be okay, Po. What better way to do it then being with you, am I right?” he said, smiling once more as he held his wings out to his sides.

Po sighed, unhappy with how things were going currently. He really wanted to just tell his dad to go home where he would be safe, but by this point they were already days away from the valley, and even then there was no guarantee that Mr. Ping would be able to make it home safely.

Sighing, Po glanced towards Li before turning his attention towards Mr. Ping.

“Alright, if it’ll make you happy, you can come along with us. It’s not going to be an issue if he comes along, right?” he asked, glancing once more towards Li, who nodded.

“That’s wonderful news! I can’t wait to see this village that you’ve been speaking of.”

“Well, let’s eat first. I am kind of hungry.” said Li.

“What about you, dad? Have you eaten anything?” asked Po as he looked back towards Mr. Ping.

“Actually, yes I have. I had…some of the food in your pack. Sorry.” he said apologetically.

While Po was admittedly a little miffed at Mr. Ping’s admission, after taking a glance inside his pack, he found that there was still a fair share of food left, he sighed once more before shrugging and grabbing an apple out of his pack.

\----------------------------------------------

After spending another few days traveling through the mountains, the snow becoming increasingly prevalent as they got further and further in, they came to a stop in front of a sheer wall, Po looking up towards the top as he tried to figure out just how they were going to get up there.

Li, however, was a little more jovial about the matter, smiling as he spread his arms wide.

“We’re almost there! The village is right on top of this mountain.”

“Yeah, but how are we going to get up there? It’s way too steep for me to fly up.” commented Mr. Ping.

“Wait…you can fly?”

“I’m a bird, Po.”

Li couldn’t help but chuckle as he listened to the exchange before walking forwards to where a long wire was, grasping it with a paw as he turned to face the others.

“Are you kidding? We’re pandas! We don’t have to climb this thing.”

Po and Mr. Ping joined Li next to the wire after the older panda gestured for them to do so, and after a few seconds of silence, Li gave a hard tug to the wire.

The other two occupants were surprised to find them suddenly being lifted off of the ground by a crude elevator platform, moving up the cliff face without any real effort.

“Wow, this is actually pretty cool.” commented Po as he took a look around, Li only being able to grin as he watched the look of wonder on his boy’s face.

After a few more minutes of silence, the elevator crested over the top of the cliff face, and what Po saw was something he definitely did not expect to see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait. Fall game season’s started recently, so I’ve been kind of distracted playing all of the new stuff coming out. Hopefully now that I’ve gotten this done, I should be able to get on a decent schedule.


	7. Chapter 7

“Whoa, this is…wait…”

Po was fully expecting to find the village looking exactly like his father had described it, but to his surprise, there was nothing but a run down, partially burned village covered in a thick veil of mist.

Just as he was about to turn around and complain that he was being led on, Li held up a paw to silence him, Po glancing back just in time for the mist to reveal a picturesque mountainside village just like he thought it would look.

“This is so cool!” he said, feeling incredibly giddy as he took in the sights around him.

As for Li and Mr. Ping, the former was happy to see how excited he was about being at his old home. The latter, however, was happier seeing some of the old Po slip through, which he was only too glad to see considering what has happened in the last few months.

As Po began to walk forwards into the village proper, he was shocked to find a large number of pandas of all different sizes come out of the woodwork.

There was a lot of chatter from the pandas that Po could barely make out, but one of the things that he noticed being mentioned quite a bit was the fact that they were glad to see Li has returned.

Not all of their attention was focused on Li, though, as some of the younger pandas were staring at him. While it was a little unnerving seeing all of the eyes on him, he managed to keep himself together despite having some minor flashbacks to his incidents with the villagers back home.

Before he could say anything to them, Li suddenly came up behind him, nearly bowling him over with a paw smacking against his back.

“Everyone! I’d like you to meet my son, Po!” he shouted, catching the attention of all of the others.

Po could see quite a bit of the other pandas’ faces light up once Li mentioned who he was, the kids rushing towards him while the adults came towards him at a much slower pace.

While he did clearly remember Li mentioning the fact that there were a ton more pandas than just the two of them, seeing all of them in front of him triggered a wave of emotion, a tear falling from his face as he registered everything.

Thankfully, he quickly wiped it away with a flick of his paw, and judging from the look on the others’ faces, they didn’t notice either.

As some of the other pandas introduced themselves, Po couldn’t help but glance back at Li, who had a huge smile on his face as he watched Po interact with everyone else. It even got to the point where some of the kids were climbing all around him.

However, things got a little awkward when Dim, one of Po’s cousins, asked something that Po didn’t expect to hear.

“Where’s your other eye?”

Po paused, leaning down and signaling for the kids still on him to get back down on the ground. This thankfully gave him enough time to think about what to say, and once he was finally free of other pandas on him, he kneeled down just in front of Dim as he spoke.

“It’s…still there. I just can’t open it anymore.”

“Why not?”

Po was thinking that the subject would have been dropped there, so hearing him ask another question caught him off guard. However, before he could actually try to think of something to answer his question, Li decided that he needed to step in.

“Hey Dim, listen, how about you go and join your brother? It’s almost time to eat anyway.”

Dim was admittedly a little disappointed at not getting an answer, but he willingly listened to what Li had to say, rejoining his brother Sum back in the crowd.

As all of the other kids went to rejoin their parents, Po couldn’t help but turn towards Li, slightly confused.

“We’re eating already?”

“Of course! You must be hungry after that long journey, right?”

Po opened his mouth to answer, but his stomach rumbled, causing Li to laugh as Po’s stomach answered the question for him.

Beckoning, Li led Po towards a large table deeper into the village, Mr. Ping following closely behind as everyone sat down. However, while Po noticed that there was a large spread of dumplings and other types of food he recognized as something that he usually ate, nobody was digging in quite yet, which was admittedly a little curious to the young panda.

“Hey, dad-“

Before he could fully ask his question, Li quickly shushed him, and while Po was a little confused, his question was soon answered when a nearby curtain flew open, revealing a shapely-looking female panda, dolled up with a red kimono, a tiara, and a decent amount of makeup.

Po also noticed that she brandished a long ribbon in her paw, which gave him an idea as to what she was going to do. However, what he expected wasn’t something that she did immediately when her eyes locked on his.

“I am Mei Mei.”

“Dad, why is she staring at me?” whispered Po as he leaned over towards Li.

“I think she likes you, son.”

“What?” said Po, taken aback. “I mean, sure, she looks very nice, but this is kind of going a little too quick for me.”

“I appreciate the compliment, Po.”

Nearly jumping out of his seat, Po whipped around and realized that Mei Mei was already behind him, somehow managing to slip behind them without being noticed.

“Oh! I, uh…”

“But please try to save all compliments until after the performance.”

Mei Mei’s interruption caught Po completely off guard, so he was unable to say anything. Thankfully, Mei Mei didn’t take it the wrong way, as she was too busy heading back to her original spot, waiting for the music to begin playing before launching into her performance.

Po was admittedly expecting the dance to be on the elegant side of things considering how Mei Mei was dressed. While she looked definitely experienced, the actual dance itself made it look like how a complete rookie would ribbon dance. Still, he didn’t want to offend anyone, so he kept his mouth shut and attempted to try and enjoy the performance.

Eventually, though, the performance came to an end, and everyone finally began eating.

“Here Po, I packed your chopsticks.” commented Mr. Ping, digging in his pocket and pulling out a pair, handing it to Po.

Eager to dig in, Po prepared to grab one of the dumplings, but he was stopped in his tracks when Li spoke up.

“You’re only eating one at a time? Come on, live a little!” he said with a chuckle.

“Whoa…I knew I wasn’t eating up to my potential.”

Despite being used to toning down the amount he ate since losing all that weight, he couldn’t resist piling food on to his plate, using his paws to shovel multiple dumplings into his mouth at a time.

While Mr. Ping was a little perturbed by Po’s less than civilized method for eating, Po barely noticed. Even Li was egging him on, but Mr. Ping wanted to avoid causing a scene, so he remained silent, letting Po move outside his comfort zone a bit.

No one else really had any issues to air out once Po got used to the idea of eating more than he usually did, so the rest of the meal was thankfully completed without any real incidents.

Once everyone was done eating, and everything was cleaned up, Po took the chance to look around the village, considering he still had only just arrived not too long ago.

He met face to face with a majority of the other pandas, somehow managing to learn most of their names despite being admittedly a little nervous about the prospect of doing so.

Eventually, though, his travels brought him to a house in the middle of the village, where there were two older pandas taking care of a very young panda in a dress with a flower tucked behind one of her ears.

Po couldn’t resist, kneeling down and reaching out with one of his paws as he lightly grabbed the young panda’s paw.

“Hey there!” he said. “You are so adorable.”

The young panda giggled at the compliment, releasing Po’s paw as she wrapped her arms around her sides.

“What’s her name?” he asked as he looked up towards the parents.

“Her name’s Lei Lei. I’m glad you like her.” said the mother.

“Well, I’m glad to have met her.” said Po, smiling.

Po spent a little while playing around with her, frankly a little surprised that she wasn’t fazed by how he looked. Then again, she must have been too young to really understand, which Po didn’t exactly know what to think about.

Eventually, the time came when he felt that he should leave them to their own devices. However, just as he was about to say his goodbyes and go find his dad, Mr. Ping suddenly walked past the still open doorway, stopping in his tracks when he noticed Po inside the building.

“There you are, Po! I’ve been looking for you.”

“You have?”

As Po watched, Mr. Ping walked through the doorway, greeting the family behind him before reaching behind his back and pulling out something he certainly didn’t expect to see.

“Is that…my Tigress action figure?” he asked, taken aback.

“Yes it is, Po. I’m sorry to bring this on you so suddenly.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m just a little surprised. I thought I threw all of my action figures out when I left.”

“Well, one of the servants from the palace managed to save this one and gave it to me.”

“Wow, thank you Dad.” said Po, smiling.

Po made a mental note to thank whoever was the servant that recovered his figure when he got back to the Valley. Just as he was about to store it away, though, he caught Lei Lei out of the corner of his eye reaching out with both of her arms towards the figure in his paw.

“Stripey baby!” she said, hopping up and down with her arms still outstretched.

Po was admittedly a little unsure as to what she wanted, but after a few seconds thought, he soon realized that she must have been talking about the action figure.

Lowering the arm that had the figure, Po pointed towards it as he spoke.

“Do you want this?”

Lei Lei simply nodded.

While Po was admittedly a little reluctant to part with it considering he was only just reunited, he still wanted to avoid going completely back to his old self considering the amount of time he put into changing his life, so he willingly decided to part with it.

After glancing over at Mr. Ping to make sure he was okay with it, and earning a nod and outstretched wing in return, Po gently held out the figure, letting Lei Lei take it.

Po couldn’t help but smile as Lei Lei gave the figure a hug, but he was soon slightly taken aback when Lei Lei gave him a hug as well. Eventually, though, he did end up returning the hug, feeling warm inside as he definitely enjoyed it.

Soon enough, it was definitely time for Po to go, so after saying their goodbyes to Lei Lei and her parents, Po and Mr. Ping exited back into the village grounds, the latter heading back towards the kitchen while the former went to go see Li, who thankfully was nearby, so he didn’t have to look for too long.

“So, how do you like it here so far?” asked Li as Po joined him by the gate into the village, where they had a beautiful view of the mountains in front of them.

“Oh, it’s awesome! I didn’t realize I had such a huge family.”

“Well, to be fair, you didn’t exactly know I was still alive until recently.”

“That’s true.” said Po, a little subdued.

Po spent a few seconds in thought before his expression brightened once more.

“Still, I’m definitely happy to know that you’re still alive.”

Before Li could react, Po had wrapped his arms around his chest, closing his eyes as he hugged his dad tightly.

“I really missed you, dad.”

Li was admittedly a little taken aback by the sudden display of affection from his son, but he soon smiled warmly, patting Po on the back a few times as the younger panda finally released him.

“I missed you too, Po. So…I’ve got to ask.”

“What is it?” asked Po, his expression faltering a bit as he wondered what exactly his dad wanted to ask.

Li didn’t answer immediately, as there was a question that was really weighing on his mind. However, after remembering what Po had said about his duties as the Dragon Warrior, he wasn’t exactly sure as to whether it was right for him to ask that question.

Still, his desperation over losing him again completely overrode him wanting to let Po make a decision on where he wanted to go from here, so while he was reluctant, he opened his mouth to finally ask that question.

However, before he could actually do so, something gold popped in out of the corner of Po’s eye, and his attention was pulled away from his father towards the cliff side where he saw a collapsed figure that he strangely recognized.

Curious, he walked over to where the figure was, and his suspicions were proven worryingly correct when he saw who it was.

“Tigress?!?”

The tiger-style master was currently on the ground where she had dropped, and she looked hurt, which Po did not expect to see in his life, never mind right where he was standing.

“Oh god…Dad, come here quickly!”

Li rushed over, stunned as he registered the scene in front of him.

“How did she find this place?”

“Never mind that, Dad, help me carry her!” said Po, nearly panicking.

Li started, thankfully realizing what he was doing. Reaching down, he helped Po as the two of them carried Tigress between them. Li took the lead as they eventually set her down on a bed inside Li’s own house.

Despite her now being in a more comfortable place, Po couldn’t help but be worried as she looked at Tigress’s barely conscious form, wondering just what could have happened to have put her this way.

Li, however, rushed out of the door, which caught Po off guard, as he didn’t expect his father to act this way.

Before he could actually rush after him to ask about why he did that, he was stopped when Tigress suddenly grabbed Po around the wrist.

“Po, I really need you to listen to this.” she said, her voice strained.

“What is it?” he asked, kneeling down so that he could hear her better.

“Somebody attacked the valley. Someone stronger than Tai Lung and Shen.”

Po was definitely stunned to find out that his home was attacked, realizing that his worries about leaving the valley in the first place were coming true.

“Who attacked the valley?” he asked, desperate.

“His name is Kai.”


	8. Chapter 8

Master Tigress looked up at Po as best as she could considering her injuries, wanting to see what he would say next now that he’s aware of the trouble the Valley was in. However, what he actually did say was certainly unexpected judging by how long she had known him.

“Wait…who?” he asked, confused.

“You don’t know who Kai is?” asked Tigress, baffled. “Your knowledge of kung-fu masters is extraordinary, and yet this is the one thing that escapes you.”

“Sorry, but this Kai doesn’t ring a bell.” said Po, ignoring the thinly veiled shot in favor of trying to see if he’d simply forgotten about Kai rather than never hearing about him in the first place.

Thankfully, though, Tigress saved Po the trouble. Resting her head back on the pillow, she closed her eyes to collect her thoughts for a moment before addressing him.

“Hundreds of years ago, Kai was a great general. He won many battles along with his comrade and friend, Master Oogway.”

“Wait, Master Oogway worked with him?!?” said Po, clutching at his vest with his paws to prevent himself from flailing his arms around in his excitement.

“Yes, he did.” said Tigress after a slight pause to show her annoyance at getting interrupted. “But Kai’s methods became much too violent and much less honorable, so Master Oogway had to stop him.”

“I’m assuming that must have worked out?”

“If by ‘worked out’, you mean that Oogway banished him to the Spirit Realm, then I guess you can call it working out.”

Po opened his mouth to make another comment, but this time Tigress was ready, holding up a paw to silence him.

“And before you ask, yes, Kai did eventually escape.”

“How?” asked Po, his expression faltering as he realized just what kind of menace they were dealing with.

“He’s a master of Chi, Po. He’s captured the Chi of every one of our friends, and a majority of the kung-fu masters that were in the Spirit Realm.”

“That’s not good.”

“No, it’s not.”

The two of them fell silent for a few moments, letting the gravity of the situation they were in settle before Po finally spoke up.

“So, why did you come here anyway? I know I’m capable of defending myself, but against a master of Chi, I’m not so sure.”

“You’re the only one who I know is capable of defeating him, Po.”

“How?”

Tigress sighed, pausing for a moment before speaking once more.

“There was a time back when Kai and Master Oogway were still friends when Oogway was gravely injured during a battle. Desperate to save him, Kai carried him all the way to where he knew there was someone who could save him.”

Po had a pretty good idea of who she was talking about, having put two and two together while she explained herself, but he continued to remain silent, allowing her to speak.

“It was a village of pandas, Po, just like this one. They healed Master Oogway, and I think that they, and by extension you, are the only ones capable of commanding Chi to the level where you would be capable of standing with Kai.”

Tigress waited, fully expecting Po to find some way to slip out of dealing with this predicament, but to her surprise, there was barely even a trace of worry on the panda’s face, almost as if he’d accepted his new destiny.

“How did you know about all of this?” asked Po after taking a few minutes to mentally collect himself.

“Master Shifu found a scroll containing this information a day before he attacked inside the archives.”

Tigress quickly noticed Po’s expression become more subdued after hearing what she had said, so she quickly lifted one of her paws, placing it on Po’s scarred and muscular arm in a gesture of solidarity.

“Po, I know you feel confident that you can beat him, but I need you to not take him lightly. We had a day’s advance notice to prepare for him, and he still destroyed us. I barely even managed to make it here to warn you.”

“Warn me about what?” asked Po, her expression telling him that there was something else besides the existence of Kai that she wanted to tell him about.

“He’s coming here, Po, and he’s coming for you.”

A flash of panic crossed Po’s face, but he somehow managed to stamp it down and adopt a blank look, the panda trying to remain strong in the face of danger.

He didn’t get long to register that fact, though, as only a few seconds after Tigress gave her warning, a clattering sound emanated from behind them.

Both Tigress and Po looked towards where the noise came from to find Li, a look of shock on his face as a bundle of medical supplies lay forgotten on the floor in front of him, no doubt being what made the noise.

“Dad?” asked Po, standing up as he attempted to walk towards Li.

However, just as he was about to reach him (stepping over the discarded supplies), Li released the supplies that he hadn’t already dropped, sinking to the floor against one of the walls as he placed his head against his paws.

Worried, Po dropped to his knees next to his dad, placing a paw on his shoulder.

“Dad, how much did you hear?”

Li didn’t answer immediately; as he was too busy trying to wrap his mind around the impending arrival of Kai. Even after that, he didn’t exactly answer the question, as the first thing out of his mouth was something completely different.

“Are you saying that an evil master of Chi is coming…to this village…for you?” he asked, looking like he was in a trance.

“Yeah, dad. According to Tigress, he is.” said Po, his tone subdued.

“How can you be so calm about this? If it was me he was looking for, I’d be running for the hills! In fact, I really should be evacuating the village right now.”

Li was about ready to do so, standing up as he prepared to leave, the medical supplies still forgotten at his feet. However, before he could make his way out, he was stopped when Po placed a paw on his shoulder.

“Dad, wait!”

Li was reluctant to go along with what his son wanted, his protective instincts telling him to run and tell the others that they needed to leave for their own protection. His feet, though, remained where they are, only turning around so that he could face Po, who by then had returned his arm to his side as he looked like he was trying to decide what to say next.

“Dad…I’m sorry, but I can’t do this all by myself.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Li. “I don’t know what I can do to help. I don’t even know any kung fu!”

“I’m not asking you to learn kung-fu, dad. I know that’s going to be impossible with the limited time we have.”

Li’s eyes widened slightly as Po’s expression turned into one of desperation.

“I need you to show me how to control Chi. Please, you’re the only one I’m comfortable asking.”

Li’s eyes widened even further than what they were already at after hearing what Po was asking. Luckily though, before it got to the point where it would have started to become a strain, they came back down to his normal height as he knew that Po wasn’t going to like what he was going to say.

“Son, I’d love to help you, but we haven’t practiced using our Chi in god knows how long.”

“Why not?” asked Po, a tinge of panic in his voice.

“No one’s ever visited this village until you and Master Tigress. There’s a reason why it’s supposed to be a secret.”

His options now limited, Po turned away from his father, looking out of one of the windows as he tried to figure out what to do now that his best chance of winning against Kai was rapidly starting to become unlikely now every second he stood there.

Sighing heavily, Po turned towards Tigress, whose face was unreadable as she rested her head on the pillow.

“Tigress, do you know how long it took you to get here?”

Tigress opened her mouth to answer, but held her tongue when she realized that she hadn’t actually kept track of how many days it took her to travel from the Valley to where she was. Most likely it was a mix of her own injuries and the state she’d left the Valley in as to why her attention was divided so badly.

Racking her brain, she decided that the only way she would be able to answer is a rough estimate, so after making some quick calculations adding together how many nights she spent on the road, she came up with her best guess.

“I can’t give you an exact number, Po, but I spent around three nights or so on the road, so I’d say it was most likely around four, and that was almost non-stop.”

Tigress quickly gave Po an apologetic look for not being so helpful, but Po was barely paying attention considering he was too busy trying to estimate how much time he had before Kai arrived.

Unfortunately, judging from how Tigress described the spirit warrior, there was no doubt in his mind that he was close if not getting close to the village, within two or three days at best.

With a plan that he hoped would work formulated in his mind, Po went into action, first going over to Tigress’s bed as he hovered over her.

“Get better soon, Tigress. I’m going to need you if I don’t make it.”

Tigress’s stoic expression faltered a bit at the downer note that Po’s last words ended up being on, but she nodded all the same, looking away from Po just as the panda stood up and began making his way towards his dad.

Before he actually said what he was planning to say, though, Po kneeled down and picked up all of the supplies that Li had dropped, which were thankfully all still in one piece despite the distance they fell.

After handing the supplies over to his dad, who thankfully took them without comment, Po placed a paw on his shoulder once more, his expression noticeably subdued as he finally addressed Li.

“Dad, please take care of Tigress, and the villagers as well.” he said. “Be ready to evacuate them if need be. If I fail to stop Kai, there’s no telling what he’ll do next.”

Li was noticeably distraught after hearing what Po had to say. He wanted nothing more than to tell Po that he had to stay here so he wouldn’t lose his son again, but his mouth simply refused to work. He tried opening it a few times, but once he realized that he couldn’t form any words to prevent Po from doing what he was planning on doing, he sighed, letting air out of his nostrils before reaching out with his free paw, giving his son a one-paw hug.

“Be safe, my son.”

Po didn’t answer, mostly because he didn’t really have any way to reply to that kind of request. So, remaining silent, he did something slightly unexpected and bowed deeply, quickly leaving the house before Li could register what had just happened.

“What was that about?” he asked, more to himself than anything as he watched Po disappear into the deeper parts of the village.

“I think Po wanted to show his gratitude to you for being there for him.”

Li’s head whipped around towards the source of the speaker, which turned out to obviously be Tigress, just as she continued to speak.

“It’s a little strange, though. I don’t recall him doing it that much outside of interacting with myself, the other members of the Five, or Master Shifu.”

This revelation came as a bit of a surprise to the older panda, but as he thought about that fact for a moment, he soon realized that Po’s actions could have also been considered as a great honor, at least when it came to comparing himself and the masters of the Jade Palace.

The only thing that did worry him a bit, though, was that there was no mention of Mr. Ping in Tigress’s words. While there was a very good chance that he may have done so at one point in his life without Tigress actually seeing it, it didn’t bring him that much comfort, mostly because of the fact that it still left the chance that he may not have done so.

Of course, he may have shown his gratitude in a different way, but still, Li felt that he needed to know to get the weight off of his chest, so he decided he was going to talk to Mr. Ping.

Unfortunately for him, he already had a job that he still needed to do, so once Po finally disappeared from sight, Li walked over to the bed, placing the supplies nearby as he got to work patching the Tiger-style master up.

\---------------------------------------------

As for Po, he needed to get away from the village for a while to clear his head as he prepared to face Kai.

He ended up walking quite a ways, ending up on an outcropping that overlooks the village entrance. He briefly considered sitting down and meditating to calm himself down, but all of the pent-up energy that he’d built up ever since Tigress had come to the village was itching to get out, so after turning away from the view, he went to work.

Using a nearby pile of wood and some other supplies, Po used his ingenuity to fashion a wooden warrior similar to the ones he remembered taking on back at the palace, of course minus the spikes.

Once the project was finished, Po tested the spinning mechanism out for a few moments before adopting a ready stance. He took a few more moments to breathe in and out before finally striking one of the arms, sending it spinning in a circle.

Po’s movements were as smooth as ever as he continually struck each of the pole arms, inserting a dodge here and there when one of the arms got too close to him.

Po became so focused on the task in front of him, he ended up developing a form of tunnel vision, as the warrior was the only thing he could see in front of him.

Unfortunately, this problem ended up preventing him from initially seeing the figure dropping from the sky, landing on a different outcropping just outside of the steps that marked the entrance to the village.

Eventually, though, Po decided to take a rest, having been training for the past ten minutes. Letting the polearms come to a stop on their own, Po walked closer to the edge of the rock about ready to sit down.

However, as he was about to sit down, his eyes landed on the figure down below, and while he was initially a little puzzled at the newcomer, his eyes widened when he noticed the pair of sharp swords and sharp horns on the top of his head.

“Oh crap.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who think that Kai showed up a little too early considering he was just introduced into the story, I agree with you. Hear me out, though. I’ll admit that I’ve been kind of struggling to find ways to extend this story any further without it becoming filler. That’s partially why the updates have been so slow. Anyway, bottom line is that I felt it was best to bring Kai in and start moving things towards the final battle, so I apologize to anyone expecting a little bit more interaction between my version of Po and the villagers. Even then, I would have been coming dangerously close to reverting Po back to his original character, and I really didn’t want all of the buildup throughout Mistakes and Regrets to have been for nothing. Plus, I’m also technically not lying about the story being short anyway, so I suppose I’ll take that as a plus.


	9. Chapter 9

“No, no, no! Why is he here already?”

Po was in the middle of rushing down from the outcropping he was training on, trying his best to get back to the village as quickly as possible so that he could warn everyone.

Unfortunately, even though he was able to see the entrance from where he was originally standing, the only way he could get back to the village was through an entrance way on the outskirts, so as he rushed down the path as quickly as he could manage, he was inwardly panicking as he hoped that Kai wasn’t already in the village having his way with the other pandas.

Thankfully, though, as he finally reached the main area of the village, he found that everyone was still minding their own business, seemingly unaware of the danger that lurked right outside.

Rushing back towards Li’s house, Po was surprised to find that the owner of said house was not there. The only occupant was Tigress, who surprisingly was up on her feet.

The spirit warrior standing just outside of the village’s boundaries was temporarily forgotten as Po quickly rushed over, attempting to get Tigress back into her bed.

“Tigress! You’re not supposed to be out of bed yet. You’re still hurt!”

Despite Po’s attempt to get her to rest, Tigress was unfazed, deftly dodging Po’s paws as she popped up behind him.

“I’ll be fine, Po.” she said as she readjusted her gold outfit. “Besides, I can’t just stand by and watch you fight him alone.”

Po opened his mouth to try and come up with another way to convince Tigress to stand down, but as he thought about what to say, he suddenly realized that something else was up.

“Wait, did you know that he was already here?”

“Yes, Po. I sensed his Chi just a few minutes ago.”

Po was admittedly a little stunned at Tigress’s admission, but then he soon realized that with the amount of Chi he apparently had, there was a good chance that practically anyone would be able to sense his presence.

Po quickly gave Tigress a once-over, making sure that there wasn’t anything going on with her that would convince him that she should sit this one out.

While he was still very reluctant to let her go out with him, he could find nothing wrong with her outside of a few bruises, and even then it was only what he could see that wasn’t covered by her outfit.

“Wow, Dad must have done a really good job patching you up if you’re ready to go like this.”

“I suppose you can say that.”

Po wasn’t reassured by Tigress’s assessment, but there wasn’t much else he could think of to get her to rest, so after sliding his paws down his face in exasperation, he sighed.

“Alright, Tigress. I don’t like it, but if you think you can help out, I won’t stop you.”

Tigress was admittedly relieved, thinking that Po was going to tie her down to the bed for a moment. However, as she prepared to make her way out of the building to help out where needed, she was stopped when Po spoke up once more.

“By the way, have you seen my dad around?”

“Which one?”

“The panda.” said Po, slightly miffed once he realized that he was going to have to deal with that question being asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t know. Once he did his work on me, he left. He never said where he was going.”

Disappointed, Po looked towards the door for a moment before looking back at Tigress.

“We’d better get everyone in the village to a safe place. Try and see if you can find out a good place for them to hide. I’m going to go find my dad.”

“Are you sure that’s wise? Kai is standing right outside the village, and there’s no telling how long we have until he decides to attack.”

Po opened his mouth, but then he quickly shut it once more when he realized that Tigress was right. As much as he wanted to find his dad so that he could make sure the other pandas would be safe, he had literally no time to do so, so after reconsidering his options, he spoke up once more.

“Go find my dad and help him evacuate everyone. I’ll keep Kai busy.”

Tigress couldn’t help but be a little worried knowing what Po was getting himself into, but past experiences told her that he was more than capable of handling himself, especially after he returned from his time away from the Valley.

Nodding, Tigress rushed out of the house as she went to find Li.

As for Po, he stood inside the doorway for a few moments, psyching himself up for the battle ahead. Unfortunately, considering the fact that he barely had any time to prepare beforehand, he was worried that things were going to go wrong somehow, but he tried his hardest to push those thoughts to the back of his mind as he adopted a more confident look than he usually had on normally.

Letting out a breath, Po readjusted his vest, his fingers brushing against his scars and some parts of his massive frame. Po then reached down next to him and grabbed his hat, which he had stored next to his pack as it was being temporarily housed inside the building.

Placing it on his head, Po readjusted the brim so that it hid his eyes before heading out for his date with destiny.

\-----------------------------------------------

As Po made his way through the village, he could hear sounds of chaos going around him as Li and Tigress worked together to get the other pandas to a safe place. Even Mr. Ping was lending a wing as well, but as he passed by he noticed Po walking towards the entrance.

“Po, where are you going?” he said, his tone slightly panicked thanks to the events going on around him.

“Taking on Kai. Didn’t Tigress say anything about that to you?” asked Po, refusing to turn around so that Mr. Ping couldn’t see the nervous look on his face.

“She didn’t tell me that you were going down to fight him! Po, please come with us where it’s safe!”

“I have to, Dad!” said Po, finally turning around as Mr. Ping could see the exasperated look on his face.

However, just as he was about to explain why, Po was interrupted by a loud crunch coming from behind.

Whirling around, Po was surprised to find that the legendary spirit warrior Kai had finally made his move, having jumped up from where he was originally standing not too long ago.

“Well, there you are! I was wondering when you would show up.” said Kai, his sarcastic tone catching Po off guard a little as the panda didn’t expect this kind of personality.

“Excuse me?” he asked, slightly confused.

“I was waiting for you to come to me down there, but you apparently decided that you wanted to stay up here where it’s safe.”

Kai fell silent, looking up at Po only to notice the puzzled look on the panda’s face, and he mentally slapped himself once he realized what he’d done.

“Oh, where are my manners? I haven’t introduced myself.”

Kai gave a slight bow as he spoke, lifting the arms carrying his swords out to the side a bit as he lowered his head, his eyes never leaving Po’s.

“My name is Kai. You may have heard of me as the Master of Pain, the Beast of Vengeance…maybe the Maker of Widows, possibly?”

Po noticed the expectant look on the bull’s face, but as much as he wanted it to, the nicknames Kai mentioned still didn’t trigger anything in his memory.

“Sorry, doesn’t ring a bell. Frankly, today’s the first time I’ve even heard about you.”

A flash of disappointment crossed Kai’s face, the spirit warrior clearly remembering the incident with the two farmers back when he first returned to the real world.

However, being used to this kind of disappointment by now, Kai quickly managed to hide his expression as he spoke up once more.

“And who may I ask was the one who told you about me? Surely one of these pandas must have told you, am I right?”

Po shook his head, not wanting to reveal Tigress’s presence to him considering her condition. Unluckily, though, Kai’s attention was drawn to someone behind him, and as he turned around to see where he was looking, Po was disappointed to see that the Tiger-style master was indeed there in her normal fighting stance as she sized Kai up.

“Ah, reunited at last!” said Kai, momentarily gesturing towards Tigress before reconsidering what he’d said, holding up a finger as he spoke. “Actually, let me rephrase that. We will be reunited at last, at least once I take your Chi. Your friends miss you, by the way.”

Po could hear Tigress growl a little as Kai, with a smirk on his face brushed a series of jade charms attached to his belt. Po’s expression faltered for a few moments when he recognized some of the designs to be his fellow warriors of the Furious Five as well as Master Shifu. He could even see the telltale shell of Master Oogway on his belt, which worried the panda greatly, as he couldn’t even imagine the power that Kai had within him at this moment.

“Well, let’s get on with this, shall we?”

Kai menacingly spun his swords around, the handles attached to chains wrapped around his wrists as he made his way to attack. However, before the bull could get any momentum going, Po quickly held up his paws in panic.

“Wait!”

Po initially wasn’t sure that Kai was going to comply with his request, but after a few seconds where he was beginning to think he was going to have to defend himself, Kai came to a stop, an annoyed expression on his face as he spit out his next words.

“What is it?”

Po quickly glanced back behind him to where Tigress was, hoping that the pandas were all safe. However, as he quickly realized after what Kai had said not too long ago, there were still some of them left who had not evacuated, including both of his dads. Po could see Mr. Ping holding a cleaver in his wing, but he looked like he was too frightened by Kai’s presence to even consider using it.

“Your business is with me and me alone, Kai.” he said, adopting a braver tone as he spoke. “Leave all of them out of this.”

Kai briefly considered Po’s words, his eyes flitting by each of the other occupants of the area, last landing on Master Tigress before returning to Po.

“Alright, I suppose I can let them go.” he said nonchalantly. “Once I take your Chi, though, I can’t make any promises they’ll be safe after that.”

Kai had on a devilish grin after that last proclamation, forcing Po to glance back at Tigress, a simple nod the only answer to Po’s silent question.

“I understand.”

“Good. Now, I believe that there’s a perfect place for us to…lock horns, as they say just outside this village.” said Kai, chuckling a bit at his own joke.

Po, however, ignored it, preferring instead to focus on the battle ahead. Remaining silent, Po began heading towards the village entrance, Kai taking the lead as he aimlessly scratched at his chin with one of his swords.

However, before he could actually make his way through the archway and down the steps, he was stopped when he heard a voice.

“Po!”

Po quickly turned around and saw that it was Tigress who spoke.

“Be safe.”

Po was admittedly a little bewildered for a second, but he quickly managed to compose himself, nodding before turning around and heading down the steps.

\-----------------------------------------------

Once Kai came to a stop and turned to face Po, the panda realized that they were in the exact spot where he first saw Kai from up on the outcropping.

While he was a bit surprised for a second to see where he was, he soon could see a point in Kai’s words not too long ago. The wide space they had did work well for a battle, but the only problem was that he could not see into the village, so officially he had no idea how safe everyone else was going to be.

Despite the feeling in the back of his mind that something was going to go wrong, Po adopted a fighting stance as he prepared to take on the spirit warrior. Kai had a different plan in mind, though.

After looking like he was about ready to fairly fight Po, the bull paused in his movements for a few moments before dropping his guard. As Po watched to see what he was going to do next, the panda was shocked to see Kai pull a majority of the jade charms off of his belt, throwing them on the ground as they transformed into jade approximations of his friends, as well as some kung fu masters he’d only ever seen in some of the scrolls he’d read before even arriving at the Jade Palace.

As the jade versions of the warriors, which Po realized almost looked like zombies, stood awaiting their orders, Kai pointed up towards the village.

“Keep them busy.”

The jombies bowed before making their way up the steps, Po quickly becoming enraged as he realized what Kai was doing. It was a feeling that he’d thought he’d gotten past after what had happened with Shen, but feeling it again felt foreign to the panda after so much time spent keeping his emotions in check since achieving Inner Peace.

Still, it wasn’t something that he could control, and as he snarled at the bull in front of him, Kai could only laugh as he watched Po.

“You lied to me!” yelled Po, his face contorted into one of anger.

“Guilty as charged.” said Kai, holding up his hooves in a mocking sign of surrender before adopting his own fighting stance.

“Why?!?”

“Word has traveled about what you’ve done, panda. I’ve heard stories about what you can do when you’re enraged. Just imagine the amount of Chi I’d get!” he said, sounding positively giddy as he listened to the sounds of battle above him.

Po was only barely listening to what Kai was saying, though. As much as he wanted to go up to the village and help Tigress drive the jombies off, Po wanted to smash the spirit warrior’s face in more.

“You are going to regret this.” said Po menacingly, adopting a fighting stance as his face remained in its enraged state.

Kai was unfazed by Po’s outburst, though. Chuckling, he swung his swords around in a circle for a few moments, the blades almost slicing against the icy ground before he quickly grabbed both of the hilts once more.

Po, however, wasn’t in the mood for theatrics, as right when Kai was finishing with his display, the panda rushed forwards, and the battle was finally on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the final battle’s underway! I’m really hoping that I managed to get Kai’s character right. It’s been a while since I watched Kung Fu Panda 3, so I might not be remembering his mannerisms correctly. If there’s something about him that I should tweak, please let me know and I’ll reword it as soon as I can.


	10. Chapter 10

“RRAAAAGGGHHH!!!”

Po’s growl was almost deafening compared to his usual demeanor as he followed through with his initial punch, his face contorted in rage after seeing Kai send his jade warriors to attack the villagers.

In the back of his mind, he hoped that they would be okay, especially considering Master Tigress was not one hundred percent recovered from her injuries.

His attention, however, was on the bull in front of him. He could clearly see the smug smirk on Kai’s face knowing that he’d riled Po up enough that he could see what the panda was capable of, but frankly at this point he didn’t care.

As for Kai, his expression never changed as he deftly dodged Po’s attack, leaning his body to the side so that it missed hitting him.

He didn’t get a chance to counterattack, though, as just when Po landed on his feet after the missed punch, the panda refused to let up, spinning his body around and leaping into the air as he attempted a roundhouse kick.

Kai, however, wasn’t fazed. Blocking the kick with one of his swords, Kai lashed out with his horns, catching Po in the mouth with the side of one of them as he sent the panda flying back a few feet.

As Po picked himself up off of the ground, Kai couldn’t resist gloating a bit as he spread his arms out to the side.

“Is that all you’ve got, panda? I’ve barely even broken a sweat here!”

Despite wanting nothing more than to get this fight over with so he could get back to the village and help Tigress fend off the jombies, Po refused to be goaded by the spirit warrior. He was already angry enough as it is. He didn’t need to become reckless.

Wiping off some of the blood that had trickled down the side of his mouth, Po quickly rushed forwards, trying to catch Kai off guard while he was in the middle of his theatrics.

However, once again Kai was ready for what Po had to give him. This time, though, he was more prepared than usual, as he threw one of his swords in Po’s direction.

Thankfully, Po managed to dodge the flying sword, but just barely, as it swung in a fashion that made it look like Kai was trying to wrap the chain around his opponent.

Using the icy ground to his advantage, Po dropped to his knees, the sword flying harmlessly above his head. Just as Kai was about to throw his other sword at him, though, Po jumped to his feet as he grabbed him by the horns.

Kai only had a brief few seconds to wonder what Po was trying to do before his head was driven down to meet Po’s rising knee, the vicious attack causing him to nearly bite his tongue as it rattled his jaw.

Stunned, Kai recoiled, pulling his swords back to him so that he could use them in a close-range fashion.

However, before he could actually do that, Po lashed out with a spin kick, catching Kai right in the stomach with the heel of his foot, knocking the wind right out of the spirit warrior.

Confident that he was gaining the upper hand, Po glared at the bull in front of him as he ground his foot into Kai’s abdomen, somehow remaining perfectly balanced on his other foot.

To Po’s surprise, though, instead of giving the panda a look of knowing that he was in trouble, Kai simply smirked, chuckling a bit as he spoke.

“Now this is what I was looking for!”

Before Po could figure out what Kai was talking about, he was met in the face with Kai’s forearm, and with the chains adding some extra heft to his strike, it hurt way more than it would have normally.

Reeling back just as Kai did, Po clutched at his face, giving Kai the opportunity to go on the offensive. Pulling his swords back in, Kai went on the attack, swinging the swords every which way as Po was forced to duck and weave to avoid getting slashed.

Unfortunately, Po’s luck ended up temporarily failing him at that moment, as one of the swords ended up catching Po right in the side. Thankfully, it was a narrow nick, but it still managed to draw blood.

Kicking off of the ground, Po did his best to ignore the pain in his side as he made a move to create some distance between himself and Kai.

“Running away, are we?” said Kai, surprisingly staying where he was despite gaining the upper hand in their battle.

Po simply grunted before spitting some more blood off to the side.

“Not a chance.” he said, more to himself than anything, as he rushed Kai once more.

With adrenaline dulling the pain in his side, Po continued trading blows with Kai, neither side gaining the upper hand. Unfortunately, while Po was managing to hold his own against the spirit warrior, Kai wasn’t slowing down any time soon.

This worried Po greatly, as he was beginning to believe that he was going to tire out before he could get anywhere with Kai. He did remember spending a good chunk of his time away from the valley working on his stamina, but he did still have his limits.

Once again jumping away to create some distance, Po rethought his attack plan, taking the chance to catch his breath as Kai waited to make a move, which puzzled Po greatly.

At first he was okay with the fact that Kai was giving him a chance to rest, but now that he had the chance to think about it, he realized that there was a distinct possibility that the spirit warrior was simply humoring him.

“You’re not even trying, are you?” he asked, an accusing finger pointed at Kai.

“And what makes you think that?”

Po opened his mouth to answer, but he quickly realized that he didn’t actually have one, causing Kai to chuckle merrily when he noticed the blank look on the panda’s face.

“Oh, that is rich. I’m beginning to think that you’re just all talk, panda.”

Kai paused for a moment, letting his words hang in the air before giving Po a menacing stare.

“Besides, I don’t need all of my Chi to destroy you.”

Kai then launched himself forwards, rearing back as he made to swing one of his swords as hard as he could manage.

As for Po, while he was caught off guard by Kai’s sudden move, his years of training improving his reaction time ended up helping immensely, especially in this case.

After knocking the sword away with a well-timed spin kick, Po rolled through with his attack, twisting on his foot as he used his momentum to lash out with a hard hook. Kai barely had any time to react thanks to the slick ground preventing him from stopping on a dime, so the punch hit his mark, sending the bull flying a few feet away from them.

As Kai picked himself up off of the ground, Po once again adopted his normal fighting stance, ready for whatever was going to be thrown at him. However, what he didn’t expect was for Kai to once again start speaking.

“Ow! That actually hurt a bit.” he said, rubbing his jaw where the fist hit him. “I might not be able to beat you now that I’m actually hurt. Oh, wait!”

Po watched, slightly confused as Kai adopted a look that made it seem like something dawned on him. Unfortunately for Po, Kai was already well aware of what he could do, and after a snap of his hooves, he could see one of the jade warriors suddenly drop down in front of Kai, the one that Po realized used to be Master Porcupine.

As the porcupine jombie rested on its knee, waiting for Kai’s orders, Kai himself smirked at Po before looking down at the jombie and speaking.

“I believe it is time for you to return to me, Master Porcupine. This panda is being difficult, and I feel I need some more Chi to handle him.”

The porcupine jombie bowed before suddenly turning into a green mist, which Kai absorbed, and to Po’s surprise healed him completely.

“Ah, yes. That felt wonderful. Now, where were we?”

Po was frankly dumbfounded to see what Kai had just done. He knew from what Tigress had told him that Kai was capable of some incredible things considering how much time he’d spent in the Spirit World, but being able to heal himself was something that never really crossed his mind.

Po knew that he was in trouble at that point, but his never give up attitude overrode his worries about his chances of winning, so he remained where he was.

Growling, Po rushed forwards, intending to meet Kai in the middle before he could really prepare to defend himself once more. While he did end up managing to beat the end of Kai’s gesturing by a few seconds, Kai did barely manage to get his swords up to block the attack.

Po wasn’t going to go down without a fight, though, so after doing his best to ignore the pain in his fist from hitting the hard jade that the swords were made out of, Po decided to go low, whipping out a sweep kick as he attempted to knock Kai off of his feet.

Once Po heard the crash of Kai hitting the ground, he immediately spun out of his low stance before lifting his leg, intending to throw an axe kick as he tried to end the fight quickly.

Unfortunately, Kai was already in the middle of doing a backwards roll after hitting the ground, Po’s foot harmlessly thudding into the ground. This did end up leaving a sizeable crack in the ground, but the ice was thick enough that Po wasn’t worried about it breaking any time soon.

As for Kai, once he managed to recover from his sudden reorienting, he pulled his swords back to him, which had managed to become loose when he was knocked over. However, as they were about to reach him, Kai jumped into the air, using his feet to redirect them back towards Po with a pair of kicks.

Po narrowly managed to squeeze his bulk between the two swords, thanking the fact that he had done work to lose weight. Unfortunately, as he was in the middle of registering the fact that he had narrowly dodged getting skewered, he failed to notice the swords embed themselves into the ice wall behind him, and he was met head on with a flying bull.

Po was sent flying once Kai’s horns connected with his chest, the panda landing painfully on his side as the sheer speed that Kai was going at even caused Po to bounce a few times on the icy ground.

Still, Po refused to stay down. Despite the amount of pain he was going through (especially considering he landed on his sword wound), Po slowly managed to pick himself up, spitting out some more blood as Kai spoke up once more.

“Give up, panda. You’re never going to beat me.”

Kai’s smug smile never left his face as he spoke, and as much as Po wanted to avoid being riled up any more than he already was considering he wanted to remain rational, seeing that look just angered him even more. He managed to hide it pretty well, though.

Adopting a similar fighting stance to the one he usually used, Po glared darkly at Kai.

“You talk too much.” he said, injecting as much venom into his tone as he could manage before rushing forwards once more.

Unfortunately, just when it got to the point where Po was about to strike, Kai easily dodged the punch, grabbing Po by the arm and flipping him over his shoulder.

Thankfully, this time Po wasn’t sent flying, but with the sheer amount of force Kai put into that slam, pain shot through his back as he hit the ground, a much larger crack forming around him.

However, instead of making a move to finish Po, Kai paused, considering his move for a few moments before finally stepping back a few steps as he snapped his hooves once more.

This time, though, instead of one jombie coming to him, there was a much larger veil of green mist enveloping Kai as the bull absorbed all of it.

At first, Po was glad to see Kai bring all of them back, as it meant that they were no longer ransacking the village and its occupants, but it still left their current state unknown. Plus, with the amount of Chi Kai had within him now, there was no chance he would be able to even make a mark on the spirit warrior.

As Po thought about what he was going to do, though, he suddenly remembered something very important that Tigress had told him.

“Wait, if he came from the Spirit World, maybe I can send him back!” he thought, picking himself up as Kai had his back turned, gloating now that he had the Dragon Warrior on the ropes.

“Hey, Kai!”

Kai immediately stopped what he was doing, turning around to find Po still on his feet, greatly injured but still conscious. Growling, Kai rushed forwards to finally put him down for good so he could take his Chi, but as he made a move to elbow Po in the fact with his chain, Po ducked under the shot, reaching out with the paw that he wasn’t using to block and plucking Kai’s finger between his own thumb and forefinger, quickly lifting his own pinky as he successfully managed to catch Kai in the infamous Wuxi Finger Hold.

As he smirked, he looked over at Kai, knowing that the bull was now caught. However, Kai seemed more unimpressed than anything by what Po had done.

Still, he ignored it, wanting to get the battle over with.

Po performed the final part of the hold, returning his pinky back into his fist. However, the burst of Chi that emitted whenever he performed the move on Tai Lung never happened, and as he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find Kai still in one piece, smirking as he stood there.

It didn’t take long, though, before Kai went into action. Pulling Po towards him, Kai hit Po with an uppercut. While Po was in the air, Kai jumped into the air next to him, landing a vicious spin kick as he sent Po flying once more, and the sheer height they were at caused Po to fly all the way into the village as he landed painfully in front of the houses.

As Kai landed on the ground next to him and began menacingly stepping forwards, intending to finish the job, Po managed to open his eyes and realized that, to his relief, everyone was okay. Not all of them were uninjured, but at least no one was killed.

Unfortunately, there was no telling what Kai was going to do next, so Po slowly managed to pull himself up, leaning on his arms as he desperately called out to the others.

“Everyone, run! Now!”

Everyone was too frightened by Kai to move, though, and as the bull made his way forwards, his attention was on Po as he spoke.

“Did you really think you can send me to the Sprit Realm with that weak little move? You’re pathetic!”

Kai made his move to finally end the fight, but as he closed the distance between him and Po, Po’s eye shot open as he suddenly got an idea.

“I can’t send him there, but maybe I can take him there.”

Just as Kai was about to stab down with his swords, Po quickly rolled out of the way, and before Kai could react, Po jumped on to Kai’s back, wrapping his arms around the spirit warrior as he grabbed his own finger with the thumb and forefinger on his other paw, lifting the pinky as he prepared to do something he never thought he’d do.

“Wait, what are you doing?!?” asked Li, stepping forwards from the group.

“Saving you all.”

Po threw his pinky down, and in a flash of light, both Kai and Po disappeared, leaving a bewildered Li standing in their wake as Tigress stepped forwards to ask the question everyone was thinking.

“Where did they go?”


	11. Chapter 11

“No! Why am I back here?”

Those were the first words that Po heard whenever he became conscious, and while he did mentally note the fact that he’d actually heard it being said, he was more interested in finding out where he was.

When Po finally got a chance to look around, he was more than surprised to find that he was in what amounted to a featureless void. The only notable characteristics he could glean from the area around him was for one thing all of the large chunks of ground scattered all around him, as well as the fact that everything was incredibly gold.

The third thing he noted was that he was also floating, and it was then that he finally realized where exactly he was.

“I must be in the Spirit Realm. Wow, I didn’t think I’d end up all the way out here.”

If Po was being completely honest with himself, he had absolutely no idea where he was going to end up after using the Wuxi Finger Hold on himself. From all of the scrolls that he’d read on the technique, the actual result that you’d get from performing said move was never clearly explained, so Tai Lung’s whereabouts to this day were a complete mystery to him.

Now that he’d actually found out what happened when he did use it, though, he briefly realized that maybe there might be a chance for him to run into the snow leopard. It was only a brief thought, however, as when he managed to pick himself up, he looked across from him and found that Kai was nearby, and he did not look happy.

“Five hundred years spent getting out of this god forsaken place, and all that happens is that I get sent back here?!?”

Kai looked about ready to throttle Po for what he’d done, but after a few seconds of silent fuming, Kai suddenly managed to calm himself down, breathing slowly in and out before opening his eyes, giving Po the darkest look he could muster.

“No matter.” he said, his tone offhanded. “Once I take your Chi, I should have more than enough to get back to the real world, and then my reign of terror can begin.”

Without waiting for a reply, Kai reared back, throwing one of his swords in Po’s direction. Thankfully, Po managed to dodge it, but as he floated off to the side to get out of the way of the swing, he was surprised to find that he actually felt fine. Sure, he could still only see out of one eye, but there was no pain coming from where he was grazed in the side, and all of the other bumps and bruises he sustained over the course of the battle were no longer hurting.

Chalking it up to a quirk of the Spirit Realm, Po’s confidence predictably managed to shoot up relatively high after this new revelation, as the panda quickly kicked off of one of the islands floating in the air, meeting Kai in the middle with a pair of kicks as the bull went to get closer, sending him floating back a fair distance.

Unfortunately for Po, Kai had hundreds of years more experience fighting within the confines of the Spirit Realm, and as Po struggled to keep himself oriented in the void (that was starting to look pretty similar now that he thought about it), Kai took advantage.

Throwing his swords once more, he watched as they embedded themselves into an island behind Po, using his own brute strength to swing it towards the panda who, having had no time to dodge it thanks to trying to keep himself floating in the right direction ended up getting pushed against the island as it continued to head towards Kai. Once it reached the bull, Po was met with a powerful punch in the jaw, the entire island shattering as the sheer force of the attack sent him flying through it.

Stunned, Po could only float aimlessly as he tried to collect himself and fight back, but as the debris cleared out around him, he saw Kai’s two swords heading right towards him. 

This time, though, the swords weren’t being aimed at him. Instead, the chains wrapped around Po, pinning his arms to his sides as he could feel himself being pulled back towards where Kai was.

As he locked eyes with Kai, knowing that this was most likely the end for him, he still continued to refuse to give up, giving Kai a glare as he struggled against the chains.

“Ah, defiant to the end. I like that. It’s too bad you’re not going to be around long enough for that to happen again.” said Kai.

With a dark chuckle, Kai pulled Po towards him, reaching out with his hooves as he began to take Po’s Chi.

However, just as soon as Po began to turn jade thanks to the life being essentially sucked out of him, a golden paw print suddenly appeared on that part of Po.

Kai clearly noticed the appearance of this new development, but it didn’t start to become worrisome for the bull until a large number of prints began to appear on Po’s body as the jade continued to creep up.

“What in the-?”

Kai didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence, as he was immediately blown back by an explosion of Chi.

After a few seconds where there was nothing but light, eventually dissipating to reveal Po, but instead of his normal vest and pants combo, he had on a getup that as he took a look at it reminded him of the one dream he’d had way back when, even before he’d joined the Jade Palace.

There was a large straw hat that was similar to the one he’d been using for travel, as well as a long red cape and a robe with an ornate picture of a golden dragon on the front.

At first, he felt giddy knowing that he’d finally realized that one dream he’d had all of those years ago. However, his attention was soon diverted as he looked down and realized that Kai was still standing on one of the islands, a look of shock on the spirit warrior’s face as he registered what was in front of him.

“How did you do this? I had you right where I wanted you!”

Po remained silent, as even he didn’t really know what had happened to get him to this point. However, he wasn’t really concerned with how at the moment, as he had someone to take care of.

Adopting a fighting stance, Po watched as Kai, angered that he didn’t get his answer, jumped towards the panda, intending to skewer him with one of his swords.

However, this time Po was more than ready. Using the distance between them to his advantage, Po started moving his arm through the air, forming the shape of a yin-yang as it blasted towards the spirit warrior, meeting its mark as Kai was blown backwards, leaving an indent in one of the islands.

“You want my Chi? Well then, why don’t you just go ahead and take it!”

Concentrating hard, Po released a wave of Chi from his paws, a golden glow emanating from him as a beam of Chi transferred from him to Kai.

Just when it seemed like Po was making a stupid mistake, though, Kai’s eyes opened wide as he realized what was going on not long after gladly accepting the Chi.

“No, it’s too much!”

Another explosion of Chi ripped through the Spirit Realm, but this time it came from another source as the sheer amount of Chi caused Kai to completely overload, the bull exploding as Po shielded himself from the light.

Eventually, though, the light disappeared, and as Po opened his eye once more, he was surprised to find none other than Master Oogway.

At first he was a little confused to see the turtle, assuming that he must have been blown back somehow by the Chi explosion, but after spending a few moments, he found that there must have been a good reason for the two of them to have met.

“Ah, Dragon Warrior. I’m glad to see you’re still with us.”

“Master Oogway? What are you doing here?” he asked, confused.

“I live here. I should be asking you the same question.”

“Oh! Well, uh…”

“I am only kidding.” said Oogway, chuckling a bit.

Po, slightly embarrassed by falling for the joke, fell silent as Oogway took the chance to look him over.

“My, my…it seems you have been through a lot over these years.”

Po looked down at where Master Oogway was looking only to find that, thanks to the robe he was wearing having no sleeves, his toned and scarred arms were clearly visible.

Slightly ashamed, Po looked away for a few moments.

“Yes, I have. I know it’s unbecoming of me as the Dragon Warrior to act like this, but you’ve got to understand that I’ve made changes!”

“Now, now Dragon Warrior, there is no need to apologize. I completely understand where you’re coming from.”

“You do?” asked Po, slightly confused.

“Well…no, but I do appreciate you making an effort to change your ways and become the Dragon Warrior you were meant to be.” said Oogway.

Although Po was a little puzzled by Oogway’s admittance, he remained silent for a few moments before deciding to change the subject.

“So, does this mean I’m dead?”

“Yes and no.” said Oogway, smiling.

Oogway was about to leave it at that, but after a confused look from the panda, the turtle decided it was best to elaborate.

“Since you are in the Spirit Realm with me, technically you are considered as dead. However, since you have come here of your own free will, I believe I do have the capability to send you back to everyone back in the real world. I might even be able to return you as your old self, that is if you wish.”

“You can?” asked Po.

“The former I can definitely do. The latter, however, is a bit of a mystery. Frankly, even I don’t know everything I can do within this realm. I might be able to do it. I might not. Who knows?”

Despite Oogway’s vague answer, Po actually considered his offer. While seeing Oogway again was great, he had no intention of staying in the Spirit Realm for good, especially now that he had his real dad back, so the first answer was obvious.

The second answer was a little more difficult, though. While he would have definitely appreciated the chance to get to see out of both eyes once more, he felt that changing himself back to what he looked like before would have meant that the ten years he spent changing his life would have been for nothing.

Sighing, Po briefly looked away from Oogway before locking eyes with the turtle as he gave his answer.

“Master Oogway, I would definitely like to go back. I want to stay how I look now, though. I feel like even though I’ve had some issues for the past few months, I think I came out for the better. Hopefully now I can protect the Valley with a little more…grace than I usually did.”

Oogway paused, looking at Po for a few moments before smiling.

“As you wish.”

\-------------------------------------------------

Back at the panda village, everyone continued to stand around where Po and Kai disappeared, not knowing what to do.

After the disappearance, a small confluence of petals had congregated on the area where they had vanished, almost feeling like a bit of a sign as to how the young panda was doing.

When the petals fell to the ground, Li Shan and the others knew that they had to do something, so after willingly giving part of their Chi, they waited to see what would happen.

Luckily, though, it didn’t take long before the petals were whipped off of the ground, a tornado enveloping the circle before dissipating to reveal Po still in his Dragon Warrior getup, as he was immediately picked up in a hug by both of his dads.

“Po! You’re alive!” said Li, being the one who’d actually picked Po up while Mr. Ping had attached himself to a part of his son not already covered by Li.

“Yeah, I am.” said Po with a smile. “Kai’s not going to be bothering us anymore.”

“That’s good news.”

Po’s head whipped around to the source of the new voice to reveal Master Shifu and the rest of the Furious Five, looking none the worse for wear despite being used as jade warriors.

“Master Shifu! Guys! You’re alright!”

Both dads released Po to allow him to greet the others, who each celebrated with Po outside of the red panda, who stayed off to the side.

“So, how did you guys manage to take down those jombies?” asked Po, looking towards Tigress as he spoke.

As Monkey looked up at Po, realizing that Po had called the jade warriors the exact same thing he’d called them back when the Five took them on back in the Valley, Tigress looked up from where she’d been greeting the others as she spoke.

“It turns out that these pandas were much more resourceful than I thought they were.”

“You mean they used kung-fu?” asked Po, getting excited.

“Unfortunately no.” said Tigress, the smallest hint of a smile on her face despite the negative answer. “They used their own talents to defend themselves.”

Po paused, looking around at all of the other pandas, a smile on his face.

“Wow, that’s pretty cool, you guys.”

“Well…now that we’ve all recovered, I think we should get going.” said Master Shifu, catching Po off guard.

“What? Why now?”

“I know the circumstances have been strange, Po, but the Valley is currently not being defended right now. We need to get back there before bandits receive word of its state.”

Po was definitely disappointed to hear this, but Shifu did have a point. However, there was one idea that popped into the panda’s head, and while he was sure that Shifu would have a problem with it, he was undeterred.

“Dad! How about you all come with us? I’m sure we’ll be able to find a place for all of you to live in the Valley.”

Predictably, Shifu was none too happy with this, but Po was barely paying attention at this point, his focus entirely being on Li as he considered Po’s opposition.

However, as Li thought about it, he looked around at the other pandas and found that through different kinds of hints that they were more than happy to go along with them.

“Well, I think that we’d all be happy to go along with you guys.” said Li, smiling as he spoke.

Po smiled as well, knowing that he wouldn’t have to say goodbye to everyone so soon after meeting them, but Shifu wasn’t happy at all.

“Po, are you crazy? We can’t handle all of them at once!”

“There’s no need to worry, Master Shifu.” said Li, catching the red panda off guard. “We can handle ourselves. Besides, all of us have had to make long journeys before.”

Master Shifu was about ready to continue arguing, but after seeing the hopeful look on Po’s face, he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he spoke.

“Fine. They can come along if they wish.”

Po immediately celebrated, and him and the other pandas immediately went to work, packing up their things as they prepared for the journey ahead.

And so, after what felt like the longest day of Po’s life, they all began the journey back to the Valley as they prepared to begin a new life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the lackluster ending, but frankly with the low response I’ve been getting, I’m not too worried. I really wanted to get this over with, anyway, so I can focus on my two Zootopia fics. There is a good chance that I might do another sequel, though, but that won’t be for a good long while.
> 
> Anyway, have a good one.


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